Dark Blue
by Madeline Cullen
Summary: Have you ever been alone in a crowded room? With blind eyes that see all, and a useless voice box. She never knew anything outside the Facility, so when she makes a messy escape and meets the Flock, what happens? Why does she look so much like Fang?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Her life wasn't what you could call typical…

Nope. With a capital 'Noh.'

Technically, she wasn't supposed to see two feet in front of her shoes—not that that was such a surprise, what with all the crap running a murderous course through her body.

Especially as she clumsily hurled herself through the air, feeling the wind whip around her matted hair, the ever familiar sound of sirens blurring below her, the snarling mess that was Erasers behind her. If it wasn't for the metal blind fold on over her eyes, she could've given them the shock of their disgusting little life…but no. She couldn't.

She had to stumble over the grass while running at breakneck speed, pushing herself right off the ground, ignoring the uncomfortable sting in her hands from being scraped on some random rock and continuing her sprint for life.

_Trees, tress, oh look, more trees!_ She though foully, letting her fingers brush feather-lightly against the bark of another offending pine.

_Dang it!_ She bared her teeth, turning on her heel and sprinting hurriedly, hearing the heavy pants of the Erasers and the taunts of the ones who had not morphed again.

Muttering a soundless swear under her breath, she leapt into the air, a barely noticeable silhouette of wings catching air and flapping frantically.

Howls of disgust were heard before she heard more whooshing sounds. _They have wings as well?_ She thought hysterically.

This time, she didn't sprint along the fields of the Facility, scraping herself on everything in sight.

No.

This time, she was launching herself through the open air more or less at speeds of one hundred and forty miles an hour—judging by the wind whistling by her ear, that is.

But no, what type of an escape would be completed without injuries?

And that came in the form of an Eraser—slow and bulky compared to her, she guessed—clawing his paw into her calf, causing her jaws to clench with pain.

What the H-E double-toothpicks was with people wanting to hurt her today? She just wanted to escape!

Okay, so maybe _that_ was exactly _why_ they wanted to rip her throat out.

Her eyes, hidden behind the stupid metal, watered when she felt another clawed hand dig into her flesh, feeling the blazing agony melt into her blood.

She literally launched her fist out in a blind attempt at shaking off the Eraser, as her body instinctively fell to the ground.

_Dang it!_

Another one punched her, this time her face.

_That's gonna bruise…_She noted morbidly before swinging her leg around to kick another Eraser, fist punching another before she took off again.

Her body was giving up on her, so it was no big surprise when she felt the left side of her body smack into something.

All the sounds melted away, but not before she heard the distant sirens of ambulances.

* * *

Anyone else think that this was the least bit suspicious?

Cause all it needed was a giant neon sign above it flashing _trap._

So why, then, were we actually helping this kid?

Well, I made a list.

(1) She was shredded, almost as much as Fang

(2) She was wearing the standard scrubs an Experiment from the School was given

(3) Did I mention that she was practically bleeding to death?


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Iggy had a scowl planted firmly on his features. _Don't think about the stupid antiseptic smell, or the clanging metal, or the needles, or the beeping monitors…_

Max had sent him in the other ambulance with the girl while the younger kids were led by Nudge in the air.

It was frustrating; hearing all the sounds of the bustling EMTs as they attempted to pry what Gaz told him earlier was a metal blindfold from her eyes.

They spent most of their time either tending to the wounds or the stupid metal thing, and by the time they arrived at the hospital, they had swooshed her off and left him clueless in the middle of frantic and sick regular people. Who didn't know he was blind.

A tap on his shoulder (ages later) told him that Max was right next to him.

* * *

"You can give me some information. Now, what are their names?"

"His name is… Nick," I lied nervously. "Nick, um, Ride. And hers is, uh, Elizabeth Ride. They're my siblings."

The nurse looked at me, my blonde hair and fair skin, and I could tell that she was mentally comparing me with the two currently injured bird-kids in there—who both had olive skin, one with snow white hair the other with black hair, and I guess both had dark eyes.

"We were adopted," I said. "Our parents are…missionaries." Excellent! I mentally patted myself on the back. Brilliant! Missionaries! "They're away on a…short mission. I'm in charge."

A doctor in green jammies hurried up to us. "Miss?" he said, looking at me, glancing at all of us. "Could you come with me right now?"

"Think he noticed the wings yet?" I heard Iggy barely murmur. I didn't answer. I thought the answer was pretty dang obvious.

Instead I tapped Iggy twice on the back of his hand. It meant, _You're in charge till I get back._ He nodded, and I followed the doctor down the hall, feeling like I was on death row.

Walking quickly, the doctor looked at me in that zoo-exhibit way I've become familiar with. My heart sank into my stomach with a good (probably imagined) _thump_.

All of my worst fears were coming true. I could already see the mesh of a big dog crate closing in around me, my skin pulling tight over my bones, the pure terror of being anywhere near the School again... Those freaking Erasers! I hated them! They always showed up, and when they did, they destroyed everything.

_You have to respect your enemy, Max, _said the Voice. _Never, ever underestimate them. The second you do, they'll squash you. Be smart about them. Respect their abilities, even if they don't respect yours._

I swallowed hard. _Whatever._

We pushed through heavy double doors and were in a small, tiled, very scary room. Fang was on a gurney, his look-a-like right across from him.

Both of them looked like death.

I pressed a hand to my mouth. Tubes everywhere, IVs, cuts everywhere, _blood_ everywhere. Both of their wounds were still bleeding a mess.

"Will—will he—they be okay?" I asked, feeling as if I were choking.

"We don't know," said one of the doctors unsurely, eyeing me oddly. _They know…_ I thought as dread climbed up my throat.

The woman doctor gestured a manicured hand to Fang and the other girl. "How well do you know them?"

"They're my siblings."

"Are you — _like _them?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes." I set my jaw and kept my eyes on Fang, focusing on the angles of his jaw, almost giving myself away when I nearly frowned at the scar I spotted there. A little cart in the corner of my room caught my attention. _Okay, first I would slam this little trolley against the nurse's legs…_

"So you can help us," the first doctor said, sounding relieved and effectively snapping me out of it. "'Cause we're not recognizing this stuff. What about their heartbeats?"

I looked at both EKGs. The blips were fast and erratic on Fang's but the girl's was just a tad more consistent.

"They should be smoother," I said. "And faster." I snapped my fingers a bunch of times to demonstrate.

"Can I…?" the doctor asked, motioning his stethoscope towards me. I nodded warily.

He listened to my heart, a look of total amazement on his face.

* * *

She woke up later, completely groggy, and a sterile, alcohol smell filling her nose.

Horror filled her, cramming into every crevice of her being, keeping her in a chilling grip. Was she back at the Facility? Was her running like heck, getting chewed on like a dog toy and smashing into the ground—was it all for nothing? _Crap._

"The girls can have the other bed," she heard a voice. Male, obviously by the somewhat deep tone.

Her breathing stalled at one word. Bed?

There weren't any beds in the Facility as far as she was concerned. The closest thing to a bed there were cold examining tables, and if you were strapped to one of those, you knew that you were either going to be dissected and killed or put through some form of torture. She didn't like either option one bit. No one there liked them, and put up a big fight when it was their turn while the more hopeless cases accepted it. A short vision of seeing one of the more dangerous experiments tear some whitecoats to shreds flitted before her close lids.

"Excuse me, sexist piglet?" Female. That voice was definitely female. "How about the two smallest people share the bed 'cause they'll _fit._ That would be you and Angel."

"Yeah, like I'm too much of a cream puff to sleep on the floor?"

"Max," Another one of them? Dang, she was going to have trouble getting her way out if it was a trap. "She's awake."

Wait, how did they know she was awake?

"What's she thinking, baby?" Thinking? Did that mean she was a mind reader? _Mind reader, means they're experiments too._ _But, does that mean this is some stupid test of the Facility?_

"She's confused…she thinks she's in some place called the Facility." _Can you talk? _

And that was when her eyes snapped open, half-way frantic.

Startled by the fact that her eyes weren't covered anymore, she turned her to the side to get a good view of them. _Telepath as well? I can't talk._ She answered simply, tilting her head up she pointed to the healed gash on her throat, the one she knew was there…_If they can read minds, they obviously won't hurt me. They don't _look_ like Erasers either…from what I've seen of them._

Tally didn't add that she was still weary. The last time she underestimated a potential enemy, the little girl nearly ripped her wings clear off, leaving her in extreme pain. Little brat was poisonous too.

"She 'says' she can't talk," The little blond girl was the one who was reading her mind then. She looked at the older girl…telepathic conversation, right. She would have to get used to that.

If they turned out to be trustworthy.

"I'm Angel! What's your name?"

_They called me Experiment Talon, then Experiment Ghost, so I guess…uh, Talon Ghost? _She saw no reason to lie about that. If it was a trap or test, they already would know her name.

"She says her name's Talon Ghost," Angel relayed to the rest.

"Ooh! That's a pretty name! Can we call you Tally? It matches with Fang's name too! Wow! Your eyes are pretty! They're so white! Wait, are you blind as well? Cause Iggy's blind and—" A hand was slapped over the talkative one's mouth.

_Fang? I recognize that names from a file I once stole…_ _Fang... it was in my file…Which one is he? Iggy? Who is he?_ She asked, glancing around at everyone, making a point of focusing her eyes on them all as to banish any thought that she was blind.

"Fang's on the other bed, that's Iggy," She said in a sweet way, pointing at the tall one that had strawberry blond hair. "That's Nudge, and that's my brother the Gasman, but we call him Gazzy," it was then that Talon's eyes landed on what she assumed was the leader of the group, eyes waiting for her introduction.

"I'm Max, this is my Flock," Talon did not miss the possessive tone of her voice. "If anyone asks, you're our adopted sister named Elizabeth Ride, we can talk more in the morning, for now, we should rest."

_Right, that's a good idea, considering these drugs probably won't let me stay awake any longer…_

* * *

"I don't understand it," said the doctor, gazing at Fang's wound. Or at least, what was left of it.

The newly christened "Tally" simply watched the situation through white eyes, which completely baffled everyone she met. (The doctor, at first, nearly got himself completely flat like a pancake it if weren't for Angel warning her that he was alright. For some reason, the girl practically exuded the need to be trusted. So Tally tried to, but with caution.) _If I only I could speak…_Tally thought. Angel giggled at that and Tally's lips twitched.

All of Tally's injuries had disappeared as well, but hers were less severe than Fang's so…

"Guess we're good to go," said Fang, trying to sit up. Tally propped her elbow up against her knee, chin in the palm of her hand.

"Wait!" The lady Tally came to know as Anne Walker said, holding up her hand. "Neither of you are in any condition to move or leave. Please, Nick, just lie down still and rest."

Fang regarded her calmly.

"Nick, now that you're feeling a bit better, maybe you can convince your brothers and sisters to leave with me," Anne said. "I've offered for all of you to come stay at my house, to rest and regroup." She gave a slight smile. "Max refused to leave without either you or your sister. But I'm sure you can see that it's pointless for them to stay here and be uncomfortable. And you'd both be joining us in a week or so."

Tally sighed, this lady was as nutcase. If Max was so adamant about staying with Fang, had made it clear that she was leader, than why the heck was she even bothering anymore?

"Whatever Max says," he said evenly. "She's in charge."

But Anne's resolve didn't seem to waver. She turned to Tally, asking her the same question.

Talon simply shrugged her shoulders, pointing her thumb at Fang as a way of saying "What he said."

Perhaps the test required her to go with this band of mutants? Or maybe it wasn't a test? Why would the Facility let her out of her cell anyways? They were going to...

Tally smothered the thought.

She then floated off into her own room, wondering if she could show her ability to the band of experiments. What would they think? Would they recoil? Would they accept her? Or worse, go with the human path and runaway screaming their heads off?

She shifted uncomfortably when the door opened and the idiotic scent of antiseptic leaked into their room again.

They handed over a tray of food to Fang, but when they placed Talon's in front of her, she shook her head. _Angel, I'm not hungry. Fang looks like he needs it more, give it to him. _

_Are you sure?_ She asked Tally, uncertainty covering her face.

_Yes, I'm not used to eating anyways…_She thought evenly, thoughts focusing on the white walls, wincing when her head flashed back to the examination room. She pulled her knees up to her chest discreetly, wrapping her arms around them, her black and translucent wings tight against her back. The hospital staff had switched out her old bloodstained and torn white scrubs for some black ones…she had no qualms about it though. She was fine and dandy with it. She even liked the color on her.

"Tally, are you alright?" Max asked, concern in her chocolate eyes.

_Memory,_ was the only thing she thought. Angel relayed the message.

"Oh."

Tally nodded before rotating her shoulders, relaxing her wings again.

_Angel…?_

_Yes, Tally?_

…_Nothing… just forget I thought anything…_

And with that, she closed her milky white eyes. _I wonder if the whitecoats are yanking out their hair right now, if they're cursing their mouths off, if they wished they would've just terminated me instead of trying to strap me to the table to be dissected…_ So many ifs…

* * *

**A/N: If anyone wants me to continue this story, please say so…I have a zillion ideas for it. If not, then I'll just leave it posted. ^-^**

**-Maddy**

Edited May 15, 2009


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tally was silent as the grave, not that she had any other choice in the matter.

She just stared blankly out towards the hills, avoiding everyone's eyes. She would "talk" to Angel as they rode in the massive car, but nothing really came out from it.

But as soon as they had come to a house, she piled out; "happy" was a complete understatement. She would have jumped up in a happy dance if she was alone.

Her eyes took in every little detail, mouthing the word "_Dang_," but shut her mouth as soon as she caught Angel giving her a sympathetic glance.

She turned her head, trudging into the house carefully; eyes scanning around, noting doors and windows…_Escape plans, best to be on my toes…_ She thought, trying to ignore the oohs-and-ahs of Nudge, Gazzy and Angel.

When they had all taken showers and they had decided on the rooms (Tally was to share a room with Max), they skedaddled outside, since apparently they were to give Iggy some landmarks to go off of.

She could relate with him, being stuck in darkness. She had hated it when they placed the blindfold on her, when they tested her eyes and left her groping around in her dog crate…and she _still_ hated it.

But she could never imagine _actually _being blind. _That would suck, no, it would be worse than having an Eraser as your roomie in an extra small dog crate._

She walked up next to Iggy, watching him as he moved around.

Frowning when she figured that her usual method of "communication" (meaning her nods or hand gestures) would be wasted on his sightless eyes…_I got to figure a way of "talking" with him…_she concluded.

However, when he tensed after having some of her long hair brush against his hand; she backed away, only then noticing that the Flock was still a bit leery of her.

It made sense. Just because she had gotten comfortable and somewhat trusting of them (thought how trusting a hybrid could be, she had no idea) didn't mean all of them were ready to accept her into their ranks.

She wasn't sure she even wanted to be a "part" of the little group. A part of her enjoyed the thought of being around other winged people, yet another was ready to take off into the sky and leave. So what was holding her back?

Shaking her head, Tally made her way inside, so silent no one noticed her leave. But that was just her, wasn't it? Silent and transparent: like a Ghost.

She needed to "ask" (and by ask, she meant _write_) Anne if she needed anything done. (Though the woman unsettled her. All "adults" did.)

_I hate it. They're like me, so why should they be so dang suspicious…? Fang even _looks_ like me._ She thought, miffed—there was no other feeling like being alone in a crowded room.

* * *

Tally just stared at us, a flash of confusion coloring her eyes before they went flat.

I saw Angel look at her intently, as if they were having some weird conversation…I swear, those two could really give me the heebie-jeebies sometimes.

"Tally is asking if you want her to leave the room while we do this, Max." Angel told me, turning her innocent baby blues on me.

I screwed my brows together, probably making an idiot out of myself and looking like a pug. "Why would she ask that?"

Another pause.

"She says because it seems to be more of a Flock situation."

I stared long and hard at Tally, never looking away from her milky white eyes. I'm not an idiot (even if Fang likes to say so), it was dang clear that she was somehow related to Fang, and it was clear that she was sort of skittish around us…but anyone who had gone through fourteen years of the School would be like that I guess.

But she had wings, and like I've said a gajillion times before; no kid deserves to be in a cage. Ever.

And even though she had only been with us a total of a few days, I already thought of her as part of the Flock…only more jumpy and stealthy.

"Tally, you _are_ part of the Flock," I said simply, looking at her sternly.

No weird faces from the rest Flock, a miracle.

Shock shined through her eyes before she nodded and sat herself by Iggy and Fang, curling herself up into a ball, staring at me expectantly.

"Okay then, let's see what we have here," I muttered. The seven of us were in "our" (Tally's and mine) room. The notes we'd gotten from the Institute in New York were spread out on my bed.

"How about we each take two pages and comb through them," I suggested. "Figure out what you can. See if any thing about the numbers looks familiar or has a pattern."

"Sounds like a plan," said Iggy. "Except for me."

"I'll read you out some numbers," said Fang.

Iggy nodded, and I passed out the sheets. Fang started reading softly to Iggy, who concentrated hard, nodding every so often.

Tally glanced at Iggy once—I dunno why—before she set about her own two sheets, almost trying to _say_ the numbers but no sound coming out of her mouth.

That really must have sucked. To not be able utter even a single "Duh."

And something told me that if she really was like Fang, that she'd be silent even if she had a voice.

Now if only we could find a mute button on the Nudge Channel… (kidding).

* * *

Tally glared hard at the kitchen, seeing both Max and Iggy flitting about, making breakfast.

_How does a blind person cook? I could barely walk around without slamming into something when I had the dang blindfold…_ She thought foully, though nothing was aimed at Iggy directly, but rather at herself.

She even opened her mouth, trying hard to ask the question, only frustrating herself when the only thing she accomplished was a sore jaw. She saw those glances Max sent her, but that only made her try harder.

Back at the Facility, she didn't feel the need to try, only managing to cry herself to sleep that night ten years ago when she couldn't even whisper a word to herself after the little mess-up of the Whitecoats. She had no one to talk to back there; but now, she had people she could relate to, a thousand and one questions, but she had to have someone ask them _for_ her.

After giving up, she turned on her heel and stomped outside, flying onto a tree branch in the orchard to sulk.

One night, after two weeks of being there, she wandered through the mess of trees, completely restless. It was a habit. She was so used to staying up, never wanting to wake up on a hospital table, so she flew around until she tired herself out. She spotted Fang and Max flying out, with raptor vision seeing them glance at her questioningly.

Ignoring the looks, she coasted on an air current before heading back inside through the window and huddling herself into a small ball in the bed. She wrapped a blanket around herself, wanting sleep to overcome her.

_Max is a big girl, the Flock's leader, and she has Fang with her; they can take care of themselves…_she thought before she drifted off.

* * *

"Tally? That's you, right?" Iggy asked, but then quickly started to swear. How could she answer if she had no _voice_?

A soft hand brushed against his before tapping his nail.

He assumed that was a _yes_ since the rest of the flock would have said something by then.

"Why aren't you outside with the rest of the Flock?"

She brushed her hand against his again, flipping his hand over, palm side up, drawing something in it.

"What are you doing?" He asked again. The girl was so confusing.

Her finger became harder on his skin. She was trying to write something in his hand. _But I don't know how to read!_

"Tally, I never learned how to read, if that's what you're trying to do," He heard the distinct rush of air that blew through her teeth, the distinct waves of "I'm an idiot" rolling off of her.

So she was trying to communicate with him.

He wasn't as tense as Fang around her; in his book, if Max accepted her, than everything was alright.

"What if you just tap once for no and twice for yes?" He offered; turning his head in what he guessed was her general direction.

She tapped his nail twice.

_Jeez, this is weird. "Talking" with a mute girl. _

* * *

That night, Tally and I were visited by the rest of the Flock, and went out for a midnight flight.

Tally had been wandering around Iggy, shadowing him, even in the air with her strangely translucent-like wings.

And that was something that completely weirded me out.

I could understand why they nicknamed her "Ghost."

Paired with the hair and eyes, those wings were dang freaky but pretty at the same time.

She had "told" me—and yes, for those of you that are a bit ahead of the rest, I meant she _wrote_ it out—that her wings were a dark sooty color and the whole translucent feathers thing was involuntary. Apparently, it was some chemical they had tested in her bloodstream that caused the wings to give off that effect.

And another thing I noticed about Tally: when she was around Iggy, she'd occasionally brush her hand against his and sneakily tap his nail. Angel said that it was her way of talking with Iggy since she could relate to him _way_ better than any of us who had fine and dandy senses (and voices…).

Was I the only one that thought that the mute and the blind bird kids communicating was…I dunno…freaking odd?

No?

Then it's just me.

Then my eyes slipped to her clothes.

Thank God Anne had gone out to buy some clothes for that girl (and us). I was about ready to start chucking my clothes at her head if I saw her running around in the disgusting and torn and _worse than my bloodstained t-shirts —_doctor jammies.

Now she was wearing a black T-shirt, a jacket with some slits in the back and…well, jeans and she'd gotten dibs on my old pair of combat boots.

My eyes glanced over the Flock, making note of what they were doing before the all-too familiar rush of heat flooded me, washing my face with fire.

And then, before I knew it, I was streaking through the air into the sky line like a rocket, my hair streaming in back of me, wind stinging my eyes.

When I came back to them, I was beaming.

Six faces turned toward me, looking stunned. Seven if you count Total.

The Gasman was the first to speak. "You have warp drive," he said faintly.

* * *

Tally buzzed around Iggy's room, cleaning it up for him.

"Tal, what are you doing?" He questioned, one eyebrow raised when he came into the room.

Nowadays, he could tell when she was in there. Her boots scuffed against the floor a certain way, different than both Fang and the Gasman's but similar. Not to mention she was the only one who wouldn't acknowledge him with even a "Hey Ig," because she just couldn't.

He heard her walk towards her and place a couple of things in his hand.

One was a damp piece of cloth; a rag? The other had a metal-ly handle with downy feathers on the other end, and the last object was a thick tube, metal-ly with a little switch on one end.

A rag, a feather duster and some sort of air freshener.

"You're cleaning my room?" His voice held amusement, and grinned when she tapped his nail once. "Got nothing else to do so you come into the blind bird kid's room to tidy up?"

Her finger just skated around on his knuckles before tapping twice pausing then tapping once. _Yes and No._

"C'mon, Max is taking us to see if we find our parents," he was left in silence before a sharp tug on his sleeve told him that she was ready to go.

Iggy shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. It was far too weird to be running around with someone who most-likely was Fang's sister.

In fact, Fang himself even admitted that they were most likely related, if the same shaggy hair, body type and face structure accounted for anything. (Of course Iggy started teasing him mercilessly, asking if Fang was going to dye his hair white and coordinate their clothes.)

"Where were you two?" Max asked when both Tally and Iggy appeared in the door fram. She was there with the rest of the flock, hands on her hip in a superwoman kind of style.

Iggy shrugged and pointed his thumb in the general direction of Tally, "Blame Talon, she was cleaning my room of all things." He gave a smug smirk.

A giggle from Angel.

"Tally says that it was no easy task, she was slaving for hours, and…she's asking what our powers are, too."

That was random.

"You saw my warp drive," Max said sort of hesistant at the completely out-of-the-blue question.

"Don't have one yet," Fang said simply, looking out the window and pulling back the curtains a bit.

"I got super enhanced senses, if you couldn't tell," Iggy muttered.

"I can sense vibrations! It's so cool! Like one time, I hacked into—" Obviously, someone smacked their hand over her mouth.

"I can mimic!" Gazzy said in Iggy's voice.

"I can read minds, control people's thoughts and breathe underwater," Angel said, well, angelically. "What about you Tally?"

Iggy could feel her shifting uncomfortably by him. "You mean they did that?" Angel asked her out loud; horror ringing in her voice. "Oh, that's horrible! She says they injected her with something to neutralize her powers before she escaped."

"Then try them out, see if they work now," Iggy said simply, rolling his eyes. He felt her tap his nail twice before she let out a sigh and placed her hand on his.

And colors leaked into his _sight_.

It wasn't a clear picture…but it was completely mind bogglingly—it was awesome! He could see the colors!

"Tally, I can see the colors," He said excitedly, a grin lighting up his features.

Another sigh came from her.

"She says that it's supposed to be a clear picture, she says it's called molecular alteration and acceleration…and that it'd be simpler to explain later because we need to leave before next year." Angel said firmly.

But Iggy was still caught up in the buzz of seeing colors again.

* * *

**A/N: Already on chapter 3. If those of you who read would be so kind as to review? I know this isn't anything new but, heck, that's how most of my stories start. I try to hook you in with the beginning, even if I'm using a major cliché. Thoughts on Tally anyone? Should I try to add some more comedy? **

**And now the review replies even if they are a bit belated.**

**Arisa Amane: ****Really glad you like it Arisa-chan! And I hope you like this chapter as well! **

**Tjaiden****: Thank you. I certainly will!**

**Annebelle****: Glad you like it so much! I will write more! Don't worry! **

**And finally, it's reviews like the ones stated above that encourage me to write more! So, **_**REVIEW!**_

Edited May 15, 2009


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Maybe her dad was a barber?" Nudge said.

I looked over at Fang and Tally. This was the address that had been closest to both their names—and I mean it like that. It said "Fang, Talon" followed by a whole bunch of garbled numbers and letters—the address where their mom had supposedly lived. We thought she'd been a single mom, a teenager, and that she'd given Fang and Tally up for adoption. But, like the first two addresses, this was a bust — a barbershop in the shadow of an office building.

Both really seemed like siblings there, looking unconcerned, Fang shrugging. But Fang had his jaw set and Talon had her hands fisted so hard her knuckles were white against her olive skin.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. For just a moment, he met my gaze, and I saw his emotion. Then his eyes went flat again.

Tally was completely different, it was always impossible to see her emotion because her irises and pupil nearly blended in with the white of her eyes.

"No big. Didn't think it would add up to anything anyway," he said. "It's probably more wasting of our time, but should we check this last one?"

"Yes," said Iggy. It was the address next to his name.

"Okay, let's go," said Fang, and he took off, not turning to see if we were following. Talon nodded and followed, her wings lifting her up into the air, a solid soot color for once.

"They're really upset," Angel whispered to me, as Nudge and Gazzy leaped into the air.

"I know sweetie," I whispered back.

Tally bit the inside of her cheek. _Hard._

She felt a metallic taste swish into her mouth. _Dang it all._ She thought foully as she watched Iggy throw a fit.

And when he chucked the rock at the window, she bit harder; giving his sleeve a sharp pull, desperate to get away from the wailing sirens.

She had to swallow the urge to keep her feet planted on the ground stubbornly when Max ordered her to get into the air.

She stayed closer to the ground then the rest of the flock, sighing when she saw them take off. _I swear, if he ever does this again, I will kick his butt myself!_

When he was close enough, she had to resist whapping him on the head with her wing; which, for a change, looked _solid _for once.

She glared in his direction. _He's gonna be the death of me, I swear! How can he swing from being sarcastic with me earlier to Mr. Doom-and-Gloom?_ _Did someone stick a bomb in his pop tarts today?_

And when they finally got to the house, she did whack him upside the head, muttering inaudibly while stomping up to her and Max's room.

* * *

Tally's face scrunched up repugnantly, tugging at the plaid skirt down then up again.

Really, if we were in any other situation, I would have teased her and said that she looked so "_cuuuuutttteeee"_ or laughed at the way she wrinkled her nose—she looked so much like a girl version of Fang that it really took some strong effort to hold the giggling down to a minimal.

But I was uncomfortable as well.

"Quit doing that, the skirt isn't going to magically stretch into pants," I said, handing her a cup of coffee.

She glared my way, creepy considering her eyes, but she ruined the effect when she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Can we play hooky?" Iggy muttered as he scrambled eggs. Tally rolled her eyes at him, tapping his nail twice, a huff of air leaving her lips, sounding surprisingly like a guffaw.

"Somehow, I suspect they're picky about that," I said, dropping more bread into the toaster. "I bet they'd call Anne."

Tally nodded, leaning back on the counter, unerringly handing Iggy the salt when he reached for it. Was it me, or were they starting to get closer? Mayb—nah, I doubt it. They had as much of a chance as me and Fang.

"I look like prep school Barbie," Nudge complained, as she entered the kitchen. She caught sight of me in my uniform and looked mollified. "Actually, _you_ look like prep school Barbie—" She linked her arm with Tally. "—we're just Barbie's _friends_."

I narrowed my eyes at both of them, trying to scare Talon into wiping that smirk off of her face.

Of course, that never worked on Fang; so would it on his sister? No, of course not; one of her eyebrows just raised sarcastically, eyes flashing with amusement. I_ swear_, those two are _TWINS! _

When we arrived to school, Tally was sticking to both Iggy and Fang like plastic cling—er, I mean, she was practically melting into their shadows.

I forgot she had never been anywhere with so many non-hybrid-y people, so this must have been grating at her nerves.

We stood in the interior of the school, waiting for our teachers to come and get us. In a non-whitecoat or Eraser way of course.

One by one, they took everyone from my Flock away.

"Elizabeth? I'm Mrs. Shawe," Her teacher said quite nicely before taking her away. I didn't miss the pleading stare she sent me before leaving.

And then a thought hit me—shouldn't Anne had asked to have me in her class, or lumped her up with Fang and Iggy since she couldn't _speak?_

It seemed to me that she had noticed this too by the way she grudgingly made her way down the hall.

* * *

Tally stared blankly at the text book as Mrs. Shawe started asking questions about something science-y, not really interested at all in what the heck a red giant was.

"Elizabeth, could you read out loud next?"

Tally frowned. Pulling out a piece of paper and writing down hastily; _It's physically impossible for me to talk, Mrs. Shawe_. She handed it to the testy lady.

The teacher scowled. "There was nothing like that on your papers, young lady. Now _read_," she demanded.

A wave of anger swelled through her but she kept her face impassive. _It's true. _She wrote again.

"Now! I'll have none of this nonsense—" But Tally was lucky that the bell chose to ring, right then and there.

She took off swiftly through the throngs of students, thankful they had recess.

She was cursing like a trucker, though no sound came out; she made a quick U-turn when she saw Fang sitting on a bench outside.

She made a beeline towards him and plopped herself next to him, crossing her arms and sulking. Playing hooky sounded _really_ good to her right then.

"Bad day?" Fang asked, a clear tone of amusement in his voice.

Tally narrowed her eyes in her brother's direction. (Brother, since they looked alike, acted alike and the address thing nights before practically yelled at her that they were siblings.)

She made a bunch of wild hand gestures before ending with her hands poised in the air as if to wring someone's neck.

"Calm down, I'll go to the office, see if they can switch you so that you're with Jeff and me," Fang said simply, somehow understanding what she had mimed.

Tally sighed and gave him a grateful grin, lighting up the immediate area, as Max usually phrased it.

And so she trailed behind him, noticing absentmindedly that she was, like, an inch shorter than her brother.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes, thanking her sibling profusely when he succeeded in switching her room and went with her to grab her backpack from the demon-lady's room.

_Take _that _evil woman!_ She thought victoriously as they strolled to the cafeteria to eat lunch.

And when they walked home, she kept a hand over her mouth, (going through the motions, more than to muffle the sound of air rushing through her mouth instead of sound) laughing without sound, eyes crinkling just a bit when Gazzy started mimicking the head hunter.

As soon as Max forced them to promise to not be idiots, Talon rolled her eyes.

_I've been here for what—little over a month?—and even _I_ know that they have as much of a chance of not getting in trouble as I have of getting my voice back._ She thought sarcastically.

Once they entered the house, she made sure to ignore Anne then walk up to her room. _I'll go fix some cereal for myself later, don't need a voice for _that_ at least. _

She paused at the top of the steps when she heard Anne ask why she was miffed.

"You forgot she was mute," Fang answered.

"So she went to Fang to have him change her room, apparently the lady was breathing fire at her before she rocketed out of their since she didn't believe Elizabeth. She's miffed someone had to do it after the fact," Max finished.

Satisfied with what she heard, Tally continued on.

_I guess Fang told her sometime between lecturing Iggy and Gazzy and the walk here…_Tally thought before grabbing Max's CD player and being careful of putting in a disc she had snagged from—well, let's just say she snagged it.

She bobbed her head slightly, lip-synching with the _Lostprophets_, lying down on the bed and shutting her eyes, still mouthing the words.

* * *

Her eyes fluttered open when she felt feather soft brushes against her arm, her white eyes meeting with fogged over blue ones.

"Tally? I brought up some food, you slept right through dinner," Iggy told her, settling himself on the floor Indian style, a tray of food next to him.

_What? _She thought, slipping onto the floor beside him, stuffing a fork full of macaroni into her mouth, followed by more until her cheeks were blown up like a chipmunk's. She chewed with some difficulty before gulping everything down.

"Max told me to let you sleep instead of waking you up," He continued, somehow feeling how she was surprised. It was that, or he was eerily good at guessing. "She said something about how you barely sleep at night and wander around instead."

She reached over and tapped his nail twice as a confirmation before polishing off her plate and downing her apple juice.

She was about to get up to go wash the dirty dishes but Iggy caught her wrist and pulled her down to the floor.

Talon's eyes shone with confusion.

"I want to know what you look like." He muttered, lips pressed into a thing line.

_How can I deny him that?_ She mused, grabbing one of his hands, placing it up to her face, she nodded.

His fingers skirted to her hair, barely touching it as he followed it to the ground where it bunched up in a long white mess on the ground then flitted it back to her forehead, his own brows scrunching together as he let moved his hand above her nose, her eyelids and jaw. They came to her lips, then down her throat to where her scar was; his mouth quirking down when he felt it.

Tally made no motion to move when she heard footsteps at the door, and neither did Iggy for that matter.

When he finished his inspection of her, he smiled and she stared at him softly.

"Not as clear as the rest of the Flock, but that's probably because I actually knew what they looked like once, but I can still imagine what you 'look' like now."

Tally just shook her head, pulling him up to his feet and grabbing the tray.

_Even if I could speak, I bet I'd be speechless._

* * *

_Is it me, or does Fang have a habit of ditching me and Iggy?_ She mused, pretty sure that her thoughts were grammatically incorrect.

She sighed, reaching for Iggy's hand as a good amount of students filed by.

"Where we headed?"

_Hm, Tahiti, Fiji, Hawaii, Antartica, and heck, while were at it, I'll actually answer that out loud!_

"Okay, stupid question," He muttered, obviously feeling her "How the heck do I answer _that_" vibes.

She maneuvered around all the kids, trying to make sure she didn't cause any of them to fall by accident. Not because she was worried for their safety, but more for the fact that Iggy and her were apt to get their legs jumbled up and land on the ground with an oh-so graceful face plant.

As soon as she found a good classroom to them selves, she sighed in relief.

"Not used to the kids, are you?" Iggy asked, grinning like an idiot.

She tapped his nail once, harder than usual. A definite no and it meant she was frustrated. _Of course not. I'd sooner dance the Macarena with Max and Fang than ever get use to all the kids…_

* * *

But of course, as they were walking home that day, things had to go way down hill, now didn't it?

"The British are coming…" Iggy muttered under his breath before he started fighting, missing when she chuckled before she threw herself at an Eraser.

Tally was throwing quite a few wild punches, recalling every thing she learned at the school.

She attempted to use her powers even…

Just as she was finishing off a spin kick, she flicked her hand at the ground below the Eraser, frowning when the ground only exploded a bit.

A sharp blow in the cheek brought her back down to earth.

She went with her gut and landed a good upper cut on the stupid Eraser before they all retreated.

She ran out into the woods when she saw Fang motioning her over, quickly giving her brother a once over before doing the same for the rest.

_Dang, I'm getting really attached…_She thought.

* * *

**A/N: Hope Y'all liked it. I tried some humor out, I put in some fluff too. **

**Arisa Amane****: S'anks chus! Yup, I hope the whole "The ground exploded only a little bit" part was some sort of help for her power. If not, then I guess I'll have to go into even **_**further**_** detail. ^-^ If you watch it, think **_**Charmed**_**; Piper's power.**

**Now, everyone, review! I know your out there, I just want some feedback! If not, talk about the new MAX novel! And all the FAX heaven! And about the octopi envolved! ^-^**

**And has anyone tried listening to the song I named this after? "Dark Blue" by Jack's Mannequin? Just type in "Dark Blue MMV" on YouTube and click the first one. **

**-Maddy**

Edited May 15, 2009


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Of course, when the Flock got home, Anne had to make a big deal about their blood spattered and sullied clothes.

Tally shrugged off her hovering and hung her jacket up just as coolly as the rest of the Flock, completely ignoring her minor injury. S'what if she had a bruise on her face, like Nudge once said; she wasn't a creampuff.

She washed her hands even before Anne told them to, sitting at the table and helping herself to some popcorn silently. She patted the table next to her without a second thought, signaling Iggy where to sit. She had fallen into that routine rather well, just as everyone else had fallen into the routine of figuring out what her hand gestures meant, along with the rare wild ones when she couldn't get something across.

"Homework after this?" Iggy asked her as he tilted his head back, throwing some popcorn in the air to try and catch it in his mouth. Which he did without fail, completely baffling Talon.

She tapped his nail once before stuffing more kernels into her mouth then chugging down some cider.

Later on, they were in Fang's room, doing homework, helping each other before Anne came marching around telling them to get to sleep when she saw them fooling around, Fang and Iggy talking some guy stuff while Tally went on one of her cleaning sprees…

"Seriously, are you OCD or something, Tally? Always cleaning?" Iggy teased.

_No. You boys are just slobs. And it gets on my last nerve…Maybe I am OCD… Dang, those whitecoats messed me up, and really freaking _bad_._ She thought wryly; throwing disgusting moss colored sock (that she had a feeling used to be white) in the garbage, wrinkling her nose. She made a _Yuck_ face.

Which was the exact moment in which both Iggy and Talon yawned; all three of them stacked fists and tapped each others hands before filing out of Fang's room—another habit that Tally had fallen into.

She walked Iggy to his room.

Tally was indecisive for quite a while before she got on her tip toes and pecked Iggy on the cheek before disappearing into her room quickly, putting on her, big surprise, black pajamas on and attempting to actually get some _sleep_.

* * *

The next day, big tour buses greeted them. Tally had wandered off into the crowd, lips twitching down ever so slightly when she couldn't find the familiar head of strawberry blonde.

"Hello, you're Elizabeth, right?" She whirled around, tilting her head before nodding curtly at the boy.

"I'm Dylan," He said simply. "I saw you at lunch, my cousin knows your brother."

Tally stared at him for a while. He had messy red hair that spilled into his green eyes. He was pretty tall for a regular ol' human and he had a pretty smile.

She pointed at her throat, raising an eyebrow. The most common of her hand signs. It just asked: _Do you know I'm mute?_

"Yep, doesn't bother me one bit. Your gestures are pretty easy to understand," He said smoothly.

Tally's lips twitched, maybe she would be able to stand being around this one non-mutant person.

"Hey, Elizabeth, we're sitting over here," Fang called to her appearing in the crowd with Iggy at his shoulder. She gave him a curt nod before turning to Dylan and flashing him her rare smile, followed by a small wave.

"Geez Tal, I should have brought a fly swatter for your admirers," Iggy told her jokingly, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

"Should I bring out the 'protective older brother' crap? Or are you good?" Fang questioned as they settled themselves in the back of the bus—where all three of them could sit comfortably without feeling like a pack of sardines.

Tally rolled her eyes before leaning against the seat, a smirk painted on her features.

Her hand brushed against Iggy's as she looked out the window, trying her darnedest to get a clear picture to him. And she really lit up when she saw the happy smile on his features.

The whole capitol was completely boring to Tally; you might as well have strapped her to a chair and forced her to read the dictionary. There was a bunch of dumb stuff about the government (something she didn't give two twigs about since it was all just _human_ rights. What about the local Avian-Americans in your neighborhood park? What are they? Chopped liver?), some big dull buildings, no doubt filled with more people who couldn't give a snot, she was just about to mime hanging herself when she found Iggy had disappeared somewhere, leaving her alone with her brother.

She gave her brother a questioning gaze, one that he understood perfectly.

"Building," He said simply. Of course, any one of them were to say "building bombs" inside the capitol, well, they probably would have been cuffed faster than you could—well, faster than you could sneeze. But they'd probably do an Up and Away before even _that_ happened.

Dylan and, apparently, his cousin Lisa came up to them, started some random conversation where Fang just barely paid any attention. Tally was actually trying, it was _way_ better than listening to the droning voices of the tour guides or the teachers or anything else that was completely bogus.

Then Max walked up to them, irritation and worry in her eyes. "Excuse me," She said tightly. "I don't see An—Ariel."

Fang scanned the crowd while Tally waved Dylan off and copied her brother.

"You're Elizabeth and Nick's sister, right?" Lisa asked Max.

"Uh-huh." Max answered. Tally, noticing her discomfort, tugged Max away from Lisa when Fang told her he was going to go look. They weaved through a whole bunch of people, raptor vision not missing any nook or cranny.

But when she felt Max freeze, she stopped, looking out at the spot where the crowd was separating, an annoyingly excited ripple going through them. But Tally really didn't want attention, so she melted into the crowd when she saw the _freaking president of the United States of America_ holding Angel's hand. She scanned the crowd again; silently making her way over to Iggy as he scrunched his eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hairline as the Gasman described what was happening.

She brushed her hand against his, giving him a picture of what was happening. She blinked a few times when he held her hand, even when she stopped the onslaught of pictures. But she squeezed his hand anyway.

* * *

"Max?"

I looked up to see Nudge standing in the doorway of my room, shifting from foot to foot with excitement.

"Yeah?"

"I think I know the secret of the code."

"Do tell," I said, once we'd all gathered in her room.

"I think it's from a book," she said. "I mean, okay, it could be some computerized code, in which case we'll never break it. But I think they want us to break it—want _you_ to break it, as part of your testing."

"Yeah, I guess I'm failing this particular test."

"Not yet," Nudge said. "There's still a couple of things we haven't tried. Like if the numbers all relate back to a book."

"Which book?" asked Iggy.

"A big book, with lots of words. A book that wouldn't be hard for you to find," said Nudge. "Something all over the place, that a lot of people have."

"_The Da Vinci Code_?" the Gasman suggested.

Iggy made a pained expression. "No. Like the Bible, nimrod. It's everywhere. In hotels, people's houses, schools. It's something Max could find easily. Right, Nudge?"

"Yeah," Nudge said.

"I don't understand," said Angel.

"Like, there's strings of numbers right?" said Nudge. "It would be like what Fang saw with the maps. But now one number is a book, another one is a chapter, another is a verse, and another would be one word from that verse. Then you take all the words and see what they add up to."

"Huh," I said, thinking. "Do we have a Bible here?"

Nudge reached down and pulled out a think volume. "Anne had one downstairs. I'm borrowing it. Trying to strengthen my relationship with the Lord."

Four hours later my brain was fried. Anne had made the younger kids go to bed. Iggy, Fang, Tally and I were still trying to make the freaking numbers work with the Bible. But no matter how we played it, nothing was panning out.

I caught Tally huffing out of the corner of my eyes before she blew her bangs out of her eyes, making a confused "hah?" before scrunching her notepad paper into a ball and throwing it in the waste basket.

She sighed for a moment before giving up, flopping down on the carpeted floor, what I was sure were silent curses leaving her mouth. And from my expert ability of lip reading (which was something I seemed to have developed out of the blue, just to cater to Tally's disability) I got some very nasty words that I am not willing to repeat. I just stored them in the back of my mind for a rainy day, or something.

After some sexist remarks between Fang and Iggy, I left disgusted while Tally just followed after—and this was a _massively, humung-o_ shock to me—planting a kiss on Iggy's cheek.

* * *

It was one of those days; Iggy had wandered off, leaving Tally all to her lonesome. She didn't mind really, she just got used to being around him. She strolled around the school aimlessly, when she caught sight of Dylan around the corner, she made sure to walk the other way as stealthily as possible.

She really didn't want to start anything with him—romantic or not— because, even if it had been a while, she still was antsy, being fresh out of the Facility and everything.

She had managed to sneak into her two least favorite people's rooms, steal some stuff, run off with some possible explosive materials for Iggy…

Something about the principal just rubbed her the wrong way.

But then, the sprinklers went off, the fire alarms going off. Everyone made a beeline out of the school. _It has to be Iggy and Gazzy; I doubt these little weenies would be willing to risk their necks to set off the alarms. _

* * *

She was just lying on Iggy's bed in his room, watching him and Gazzy build a bomb. It was cool, but her attention slipped.

"Hey, Tally, you never told us what your power really was," Gazzy said after informing Iggy what color wire he was holding.

She shrugged noncommittally. _How the heck do I tell you? Mute here…_ She thought sarcastically.

But Iggy had procured a note book and paper. From where? She'd never know. And she was the one that cleaned his room up!

She wrote down hastily what her power was, trying her best to sound a couple of words out in her head before she handed the note pad to the Gasman to read.

"She says that its…mo-mo-molecular acceleration and al-alteration. Which just means that she can freeze and… blow things up? That's cool!" Gazzy exclaimed, beaming at her with that innocently excited gleam in his eyes that just made her want to melt into a mothering mess… but she'd never attempt to take Max's place. Chances were Max would sooner rip Tally's head off then even allow her to _think_ about it.

She stole the pad back, writing some things down quickly before handing it back to Gazzy. "She says that it's just fancy talk. She can just alter molecules and some chemicals in people's heads to be able to transfer a picture. Which is why she can't project her voice."

"I get it. You just accelerate the molecules, so that it either slows till it freezes or make them go so fast they collide, which makes things go _KA-BOOM!_" He yelled out the last part, making a big exploding motion with his hands, grinning when he heard the distinctly quiet giggle.

"She nodded, Iggy," Gazzy told him as she climbed off the bed and settled herself _very _close to Iggy, brushing her hand against his ever so slightly.

Iggy sniggered. "Geez Tally, seems like you can't keep your hands off of me."

A rush of air left her mouth, sounding strangely indignant as she playfully punched his shoulder.

"Whoa! Watch it! Working with explosives here!" Iggy said; the grin still on his face as he rubbed his shoulder.

Tally just rolled her eyes, winking at Gazzy.

"You're really hyper today, Tal," Gazzy noted, handing some sulfur to Iggy.

She snatched the writing pad and wrote a storm up again.

Gazzy read it over real quickly before he burst out laughing.

"What is it?" Iggy questioned as Tally took out some stuff from her pockets, eyes shining with humor as she got all the things out.

"S-She says that she stole the headhunter's chocolate stash and drank Mrs. Shawe's coffee when they weren't their today! _And_ she got us some stuff to make bombs with!"

Tally just flashed one of her rare smiles, a blush dusting over her lightly tanned cheeks.

* * *

The next week, she told Anne that she was going to go shopping and asked if she needed anything.

Of course, she just gave her this grateful smile and a list of things they were running _dangerously_ low on.

Tally had to force herself not to guffaw at that. Had this woman even known what dangerous really was? Oh, wow, they were low on Chocolate-chip cookies (Max's fault) and Snicker's Bars (the whole _Flock_'s fault. What? Those things were dang right addicting); how would they ever live?

_But I really shouldn't complain, I mean, I asked, didn't I? But Anne should really choose her words better._ She thought as she made her way upstairs, asking Angel mentally if she could ask Iggy if he could come get groceries with her.

Angel did it happily, but Nudge must've overheard because she was on her like a fly on flypaper. She let Tally's hair out of it's standard pony tail, pulled half of it up then through some clothes at her and slathered some lip-gloss and blush on her.

_That girl is _far_ too hyper_, she thought while waiting for Iggy downstairs. _He can't even _see_ me for Pete's sake! How the heck is he supposed to know whether or not I have some weird powdery stuff on my eyes lids anyways?_

_You send him a picture of yourself, silly,_ Angel thought to her.

Tally sighed. There was no way out of it.

"NUDGE! Why do I care if I wear a green polo or a light blue one! I can't see dam-"

"LANGUAGE!" both Max and Anne screamed from the corners of the house.

"-_dang_ it!" Iggy finished.

One delicate white eyebrow went up. _They're forcing him into some "nice" clothes as well? Geez, they are going cuckoo for coco puffs now, aren't they? _

A loud _thump-thump_ noise alerted her to the fact that Iggy was coming down the stairs, mumbling something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "Oh yeah, 'do you like this color Iggy?' 'Yes, Nudge! Of _course_ I do! Let me just look at it with my _imaginary_ eyesight!' Sheesh, sometimes I wonder about that girl."

She swallowed the grin on her features before extending her arm and brushing it against the back of his neck, smirking when he shuddered. "Tal! Don't _do_ that," He muttered, rolling his shoulders and turning in her general direction.

"SHOW HIM ALREADY!" Nudge yelled from the stairs.

Tally's eyes narrowed into a glare, _My gosh! Could she be _anymore_ obvious._

Nevertheless, she put her hand on Iggy's face, giving him a picture of what he looked like before she glanced in the hallway mirror and gave him a picture of what she looked like.

"Oh, you look nice…" He muttered.

She forced some air through her lips, which just could have vaguely, almost passed as a breathless "you too" if it weren't for the fact that Iggy had to strain his enhanced ears to decipher it.

"Thanks," He muttered. "Blame the obsessive dummy who forgets I can't _see_ every two minutes."

"I HEARD THAT!" Nudge hollered down at them.

"YOU WERE MEANT TO!" Iggy retorted, hands cupped around his mouth to project his voice farther.

"NO MORE YELLING ACROSS THE HOUSE!" Anne joined in.

"WHAT SHE SAID!" Max screamed, appearing at the top of the stairs next to Nudge.

Tally sighed before grabbing Iggy's sleeve and pushing him out the door before he could even open his mouth to no doubt make some sarcastic retort.

She smacked him upside the head when he started mumbling about hypocritical women.

"Dang it! I knew it! You're all conspiring against me! I need to go get Fang and Gasser! I need reinforcements!" He said beginning to march off back to the house, but Tally deadpanned, yanking on his ear and walking down the road with him saying "ow ow ow ow ow" all the way down the road until they reached the clearing they could take off in.

_Whoo boy, this is going to be _such_ a long day,_ Tally thought, hair whapping all over the place behind her while Iggy tended to his 'injured' ear.

* * *

**A/N: I got my ****Maximum Ride: Manga Vol. 1**** today. I am giddy because I have already started drawing a zillion things. I got my latest pic of Tally drawn up, just need to add details. So, whatcha guys think? Ya like this chapter? I hope some part of it was funny, cause I actually tried this time around (other times, I write a chapter, and make something funny, look at it, don't think it's funny, but everyone else points out that it is while I laugh awkwardly…I am the comic relief at home but don't notice that I'm being a clown online too ^-^;). What are your fave parts? Suggestions? Do you guys have any ideas for drawings of this? A particular bird? I'm going a bit off the deep end with my lack of creativity. **

**-Maddy**

Edited May 15, 2009


	6. Chapter 5

Dark Blue

Chapter 5

Tally sifted through the contents of the shopping bag, Iggy's hand on her shoulder to see what she was seeing.

Which still made him react like a kid in a candy store.

"Yeah, that should be everything. Hey, want to go get some coffee?" He asked casually, taking the bag out of her hands.

Tally tilted her head one way before tapping his nail once.

It's not like the coffee would suddenly turn into Erasers, right?

They had a pretty good time at the coffee shop, and a good "chat" on the way back. Tally exploding a boulder, giggling when he cupped his hands around his ears, saying that it was music to him, a goofy smile on his lips.

They were laughing (which in Tally's case was just a bunch of breathless, odd sounding- well, sound), practically falling all over each other when Iggy suggested they sit down.

Tally agreed, tapping Iggy's nail twice.

"I can just _imagine_ the damage your power could do, Tally!" Iggy said.

She put her hand on his cheek, sending him pictures of her sneaking into the headhunter's chocolate stash and stuffing her face, whirling around when he entered and putting her hand in the air, effectively freezing him while she disappeared around the corner.

"Geez, it'll be much easier to steal Max's dessert with you around," Iggy said. "I mean, it's like having a female Fang, but on our side! We can get away with anything!" He said, punching the air.

She sent him a picture of cleaning utensils then one of her glaring.

"Oh, yeah, and all the mayhem at the very low cost of keeping my room clean, _so_ pricey, I have half a mind to call you cheap, Tal," Iggy said sarcastically, rolling his sightless eyes.

Tally sighed, leaning against his shoulder. "I guess using your ability too much takes a lot out of you, eh?" Iggy asked, getting no other answer other than her nodding her head into his shoulder.

Iggy leaned back against a tree, making sure it was carefully between his wings. (Since he _really_ didn't want to fetch a splinter out of his feathers, or have to go whining to Max about having a _boo-boo_ like Gazzy usually did…)

Tally stared up at him, ruffling the feathers of her own wings before pulling them close to her body, tucking her head under Iggy's chin.

_I wonder why it's just so comfortable to be with him,_ She thought to herself. _Any other person, I would have put my boot in their butt and sent them on their merry way… but it all just feels natural with him. _

Tally relaxed into Iggy, not aware that Iggy was wondering the same thing save it was more of "chucked a bomb at their head" instead of "boot in their butt" for him.

He laid his hand across her waist, before taking a deep breath and lifting up Tally's chin, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

She was caught off guard, to say the least. She was freaking out, but promptly kicked that panicky-ness out off her head and settled into her more collected self, moving her lips against his.

Just as he was about to angle his head to kiss better, they both bristled.

Quick as lightning, they leapt up, falling into fighting stances.

Tally's eyes flickered over all of the Erasers, a total of four.

She brushed her hand on Iggy's shirt, showing him what they had to deal with.

"Blow them up? Or freeze?" He whispered out of the corner of his mouth before he dodged to the side as he heard an Eraser charging his way.

Tally was preoccupied, delivering a fierce roundhouse kick to another. As soon as she had an opening, she clapped once before (making sure to grab the bag of groceries, cause God knew she didn't want to come back for them) fisting her hands then opening them in a rapid movement, blowing up one Eraser, raining icky Eraser-y chunks everywhere.

Talon barely had a chance to make a _Yuck_ face before reality hit her again.

"AUGH!" Iggy exclaimed before ramming his elbow into another Eraser. Tally ran over to him, grabbed his hand a sprinted over to the nearest clearing, blowing up the other stupid wolf hybrid that tried to take a snap at them. Her teeth grit together when she felt another chomp at her calf_; and in the same freaking place as the other Eraser had bitten her._ She gave a hard kick in its direction so it would release her before catching up to Iggy.

"U and A?" Iggy asked, turning his head around, listening for anything.

Tally, tapped him once, _hard_. Before both gave a hard flap of their wings and took to the air. "I _knew_ I should've forced Nudge to fork over my bombs!" Iggy cursed.

Tally just shook her head before—

_SLAM!_

Her head jerked back with the force of the blow, blood dribbling down her lips.

_Oh, now it's on, dang it._

Another Eraser took a bite at her arm, leaving gaping holes in it.

_Or maybe not_, she thought dizzily before forcing her eyes open and struggling. _Great, Imma have to go get those again_, she noted sourly as the bag of groceries fell to the ground with a resounding _splat_ sound.

Then, an epiphany hit her.

She kicked up her leg, aiming right behind her and nailing the _male_ Eraser right where the sun didn't shine. Otherwise known as his crotch.

He went tumbling down to the forest floor, curling up into fetal position.

She took a gasping breath of air before noticing that she was free falling, Iggy having looped around and beaten the snot out of the one that had taken a fair chunk out of her arm.

For good measure, she just blew them both up before fleeing with Iggy, making sure her wings brushed against his with every down stroke.

"Man, can't mutants go grocery shopping any more?" Iggy asked. "Nooo, we have to get mauled by other mutants, who choose to attack the blind pigeon and mute swan."

Tally smirked through her pain. _Isn't he just a bundle of ironic fun._

* * *

"Erasers?" I asked as I saw two disheveled and bloodied up bird kids walk in through the door.

Tally gave me that blank, emotionless stare _so_ common to her brother before nodding and going to fetch the fix-up kit.

"Yeah, Tally blew them up since _I _couldn't," Iggy said, very much in a sourpuss manner. "_Nudge_ had to take my bombs away before she sent us on a suicide trip to the market."

I snorted. "Suicide trip? How many were there? Six?" I asked; if Tally was anywhere near good at fighting as Fang than they would have been able to handle them easy, at least, in theory.

"Uh, no. Four. Hello? Max? Remember, blind over here. Which doesn't help the situation any when Tally can't tell me what to _do_ since she can't _speak._"

Right.

So the most either of them could handle with each other was probably _only_ six.

Jeezums, _that_ must've sucked.

"An Eraser took a big bite out of Tally," Was it me, or did I detect a dark tone behind his voice. "We better get to sewing her up."

"What do you mean, you dropped the groceries? I'm more concerned with the fact that you look like you've been ruin through the blender a couple of times!" Anne's shriek filled the house.

Iggy and I winced before making our way to where the voices were coming from, the rest of the flock meeting us on the way there. "What's going on?" Gazzy asked.

"Erasers attacked us on our way back," Iggy answered simply right before we made it to Tally and Anne.

Tally was writing on a notepad in her messy script, handing it over to Anne. "'Just a scratch'?" Anne yelled shrilly again after reading the note.

A muscle in Talon's jaw twitched irritably before she snatched up the medical kit and walked over to the bathroom silently, Anne hot on her tail.

"It really is nothing, Anne," I threw in my two cents; giving Tally a life boat. "We heal fast and have better immune systems than you. We just need to put some gauze on it and watch, it'll be healed by tomorrow." I said simply, abandoning the rest of the Flock in favor of the newest addition.

I made my way to the bathroom to see Tally in her undershirt, having thrown her blouse into the tub, letting the warm water pelt it while she poured antiseptic on her arm, hissing quietly at the pain.

"Here, let me do it," I said, taking the bottle and stuff from her.

She nodded gratefully at me.

I was careful, using as much delicacy as I usually used with the smaller kids since the most antiseptic she had ever been exposed to was under _way_ different situations.

I wrapped the bandages around her arm carefully then took out a band-aide for her the scratch on her cheek.

"There, now, anything else hurt?" I asked.

She shifted nervously, closing the door to the bathroom then unbuttoning her pants and peeling the jeans from her leg.

I hissed. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

She shrugged, the expression on her face clearly saying, "Just a scratch."

I shook my head before I got to bandaging it together as well, throwing her pants under the water as well.

My anger was bubbling inside me. _They just _had_ to attack Iggy and Tally, didn't they?_

"There, done, anything _else_ you might have been hiding?"

She shook her head "no" before sheepishly motioning to the clothes in the tub.

"Oh, right, I'll go get you a spare change. Be right back."

* * *

"How was the date?" Fang asked simply, watching Iggy unerringly bandage himself.

"What date?"

"With my sister."

"What? I didn't go on a date with your sister!" Iggy said defensively, head snapping up.

"Right. And you were at the grocery store for _four_ hours," Fang said sarcastically.

"Uh…would you believe me if I said 'yes?'" Iggy asked nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"No." Fang stated as he twitched.

"Uh well, we got the stuff on Anne's list, went for coffee and that's it…" He muttered. "And, um, we kissed in the woods." He added quickly.

"I'm telling you, your slaying them, big guy." Fang told him, with a smirk.

"Oh shut up, it was all ruined by the Erasers," Iggy said foully, chucking a pillow in Fang's general direction.

* * *

Tally was being a sneak with Fang, doing some sibling bonding when Max went on her date.

They staked out the living room, playing a few rounds of Texas Hold 'Em with an assortment of Cheetos, mini pretzels and potato chips. With some cold cokes, of course.

Anne joined them when a car engine entered their drive way. Both Fang and Tally peeked out of a window, using those stealthy abilities that came naturally to them.

"You both should go to sleep with the rest," Anne reprimanded.

Tally turned around and pressed her finger against her lips in the universal "shush" sign.

"They're back," Fang whispered and Tally appeared at his side again.

Anne sat herself down on the couch while both Fang and Tally watched Max kissing that Sam dude. And when she turned around to open the door, both she and Fang bolted up the stairs.

Tally made a point of entering Iggy's room, sighing when she heard the soft thuds of Max's new combat boots hitting the floor.

"Did she cause tears and violence and mayhem yet?" Iggy asked, sneaking up on her.

She gave him a picture of Max kissing Sam before listening at the door intently, nodding to herself when she heard a heavier set of feet enter Max and hers room.

"How'd the poker game go? Did Fang steal all the cheetos?" She tapped his nail twice. "Did he kick your butt at it?"

Tally shoved him lightly, a huff of air leaving her lips. "Oh my! The big and powerful Talon Ghost lost to her brother Fang!"

Iggy didn't need to see to feel her hand slapping over his mouth, but she did send him a picture of Max telling Nudge to shut up.

Clearly, she wanted him to shut up.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Your Highness, should I go get your coffee and tea now?" Iggy asked, doing a mock bow.

Tally rolled her eyes and just went over to his closet and picked out a blanket, stole one of Iggy's pillows and settled herself on the ground.

"You're rooming with me tonight?" Iggy asked, going back to the bomb that Gazzy and he had made earlier that day.

She reached over and tapped his nail twice before lying down on her makeshift bed, turning on her side to watch Iggy work. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep.

Talon was sort of dazed the past few days, not malaise but still, it was odd to see her shutting into herself.

And she only became that way when she saw Fang and I leave to go find who we suspected were Iggy's parents. And then when we discovered that stuff about the possibly phony-school-more-than-likely-a-plot-of-The-School-to-get-us-back…well, she just locked herself up and became distant. It made my suspicion meter go up a bit, but I just shook it off.

She hadn't been out of the School (or Facility, in her case) for long and already, she was in danger of loosing her sort-of freedom.

* * *

At exactly 11:05 that night, six windows on the second floor opened. One by one we jumped out of our respective rooms, fell about eight feet, then snapped our wings open and got some uplift. Talon being the wandering spirit she was had already been circling the house for about five minutes.

She flew relatively close to Iggy, but not to the point where their wings tangled up.

When we reached the bat cave and situated ourselves, I made my announcement. "Okay, guys," I said. "Listen, I've been thinking, and I really think it's time for us to move on. This has been a great break, but we're all rested, healed up, and we should disappear again."

This announcement was not met with confetti and noisemakers.

"I mean," I went on in the deafening silence, "Ari knows we're close by. He attacked us on our way home from school, he attacked Iggy and Tally—he probably has cameras trained on Anne's house. The headhunter has it in for us. Now the weird files from the school, the mystery tunnel—it's all adding up to an ugly picture." _Not to mention what Angel might be doing to the leader of the free world._ I shot her a hard glance, in case she was listening to my thoughts, and she grinned at me.

"We should clear out of here before all this stuff starts hitting the fan."

I saw Nudge and Gazzy glance at each other. Angel leaned her head against Iggy's shoulder. He patted her hair. The stoic twins were as silent was ever…and everyone just seemed to be on mute. Great.

"I mean, maybe this is where we learn to think smart, stay one step ahead of the game instead of having the game bite us in the ass."

_Or maybe this time you learn how to stay and make it work._

I scowled. _This isn't a relationship, Voice. It's a trap, or a test, or at best a surreal side trip on a journey that's already been fairly mind-blowing. _

Okay, I am not a jerkface, no matter what anyone thinks. So when the kids gave me a very abashed look when I said "no Thanksgiving," well, I gave in. Call me a pushover. I dare you.

* * *

Tally, being just the wonderful and _generous_ mutant that she was, decided to freeze Anne while she was freaking out over the little thingy on the turkey and about everything going to ruins. Much to the relief of some and the horror of others.

(Gazzy just yelled out "COOL!" for the record.)

Max gave Talon a stern talking to (which she just smirked at) and told her to unfreeze Anne before she noticed anything. Tally sighed before doing as she was told, then proceeded to pick Total off the ground and take him to the couch, petting him much to his delight.

She really wasn't in the mood for a Thanks-whatever.

When it came down to the actual giving of thanks, she had to try hard to keep down her scowl when Anne looked at her expectantly. _Sheesh, does this woman ever remember I can't talk?_ She just did her universal "What he said" shrugging of the shoulders.

But when she said she wanted to adopt them…well, that just threw a hulking piece of salami at the fan.

She ate stiffly, ignoring the jovial mood and just sinking into her pit of despair, horrible flashbacks entering her mind's eyes. One's where she was pitted against Erasers than forced into the maze, and ones where she was knocked out for surgery.

She lost her appetite at that moment, and waited patiently for everyone to finish and leave the table before she calmly walked outside before jumping into the air, her face twisting up in pain.

Talon didn't come back till morning that day, then she only changed her clothes in stony silence for everyone else to get ready to leave. Her eyes didn't reveal anything, since, well, I could barely make them out against the whites of her eyes, save for a faint gray outline.

She stood by Fang while everyone else got ready, and I suppose he told her where they were going.

She was really starting to worry me.

Talon wasn't very social to begin with, except with Iggy, Angel or Gazzy but she somehow seemed to have shut everyone out in the last few days. If it weren't for the fact that she was moving around or breathing, I would have thought she was dead…

The very first thing with emotion she did that day was walk over to Iggy and squeeze his hand discreetly before leaping out of the window again.

After twenty minutes of flying, we were across the street from the house Fang and I had gone to several days before. It was the day after Thanksgiving, so we hoped they would both be home.

* * *

Tally watched Max ring the doorbell with apathy, an emptiness sinking in to her. When the woman, who looked almost identical to Iggy, answered the door and Max gave her very blatant…assumption.

On instinct, Tally went to grab Iggy's hand again, showing him what was going on. There was no way she was going to let him stay in painful suspense; that was far too cruel.

Everything, was well, a blur to her, when they called Iggy "James," when they invited them in and how Talon let go of his hand reluctantly, in favor of standing next to Fang and Gazzy.

Her eyes were subtly scanning everything, a part of her hopefully wishing that this was some trap and they were going to high tail it out of their, all _seven_ of them while another part of her was slowly accepting that Iggy might leave the Flock.

She was caught a bit off guard when the woman burst into tears and hugged Iggy tightly.

Her heart froze over then fell into her stomach.

"Wh—who are you?" The man asked, gesturing to all of them.

"We're—friends," Max said. "We—were taken too. But you're the first parents we've found." Iggy's long lost parent's looked stunned.

"So, uh, what now?" Max asked briskly, fidgeting.

And Tally just shut down on autopilot, ignoring everything, and faintly hearing when Iggy said he belonged there.

She didn't care that the whole Flock, plus Iggy's parents were watching when they were saying good byes; she just gave him a peck on the lips before walking off into a clearing before the rest of the Flock and taking off into the skies.

She needed to blow off some steam: desperately.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys liked it. Um, my attempt at humor in this one, along with the usual depressing note I throw into **_**all**_** of my stories. Please REVIEW!**

**-Maddy**

Edited May 15, 2009


	7. Chapter 6

Dark Blue Chapter 6

You didn't need to be a mind-reader (like Angel) or a mutant to know the Flock was completely depressed about having lost their blind pyro.

Tally was always off somewhere, either with Gazzy, trying to comfort the little hellion, or flying around the house aimlessly. Or, more often than naught, she was in the Orchard, munching on an apple while trying to keep her mind on other things.

Her wings, she found, had lost that transparent effect. The feathers were all smooth, but a dark sooty color, nearly as dark as her brother's wings. And it was dully noted that the scientists' last test on her was a failure. The whole "transparent" wings just made her seem more ostentatious then stealthy.

And—from what she saw in the mirror once while she was drying her hair after a shower—the little black roots peaking through her hair: Her features were going back to normal. Contrary to popular belief, she was not naturally albino-ish. Her white features were the cause of another experiment gone awry. She had only a faint idea of why they made her features go white since they began calling her "Experiment Ghost" right after it. She supposed that they were just trying out some weird experimentation to further "enhance" her. Just like the wings on her back were meant to enhance her, Iggy's blind eyes were the result of them "enhancing" his eyesight and the list went on.

Talon tried really hard to keep her emotions in check around the smaller kids, seeing as Max, Fang and Tally had their hands full, comforting them all.

Max, she noticed, was still a bit suspicious of her. But when Tally asked her about it one day, she said, "We can trust you as much as Total, or even myself. Since I have chip in my arm."

But, keeping her emotions in check was proving to be a hassle. More than once, she had needed to jump out a window to take a breather, but when she was with Nudge, Angel or Gazzy, she just swallowed it.

When they went to school, well, she and Fang were confronted by a bunch of overly curious kids, much to their dismay. They didn't want to be made a public issue, they could wallow and suffer in solitude. It was just more _them._

They entered the classroom and situated themselves, preparing for another droning lesson.

But then Fang's head snapped up when Max's voice was heard streaking down the hallway. "Bandada! Bezheet! See-chass! Move, move, move!"

Fang grabbed got up and burst through the door, Talon right on his tail. _What the heck is going on?!_ She thought frantically.

She and Fang caught sight of the exit doors just as Gazzy joined them in their five person stampede, both of them headed there, opening the doors wide open while Fang called for the rest of the Flock.

"Up and away!" Max shouted.

Tally's wings snapped open to their 13 and a half foot wingspan, smoothing out her primaries before launching herself in the air, gaining some lift before she circled above with the rest.

She was frantic.

The only reason she could think of that might cause Max to freak out, was well, whitecoats.

And Tally would sooner cut her own wings off (well, maybe not that) than be any where _near_ whitecoats.

"Where to now?" the Gasman asked when they were far away, wings beating rhythmically.

"We need to go back to Anne's," said Angel.

"Yeah, just real quick, to get some stuff," Nudge agreed.

"Actually," Max said. "I hid our packs in the bat cave a few days ago. Just in case something like this happened. And I didn't forget to lift one of these," She added, wagging Anne's credit card in the air. "She'll never miss it."

"Great," said the Gasman in relief. "That was really smart, Max."

"That's why they pay me the big bucks," she said.

Tally scanned the land again, though. _No Erasers, no whitecoats._

"No," Angel said. "_Total's there."_

She turned to Max, letting her wing brush against hers, sending her a quick picture flashing the words _TRAP_ in her head.

Max gave her a look, one that said, "I know."

-

Tally hovered in place, watching her brother dive right behind Angel, then as Angel caught her beloved Total.

She was running on adrenaline now, eyes flicking from one place to another, hands poised in the air, ready to blow up or freeze anything that was thrown at her.

She bristled when they said Anne was down there. _A lot._

She was about to go down there just to _blow that woman up_ if it weren't for the distinct voice that said "Yo" behind them.

All of them whipped around and gaped.

_Iggy! _

Everyone was shouting and trying to tackle him at once. All of the girls managed air kisses while the boys slapped high fives with him.

"I went by the school," he said. "They seem to be having a bad day."

Tally resisted grinning. _Oh yeah, they're having a bad day if you count Max putting her boot through the headhunter's windshield, than yeah. _

Max gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Do I hear a ruckus down below?" Iggy asked.

"You do indeed," Max said, than she must've realized something by the look on her face. "On, no—Iggy. What happened?"

"Well," he said, his face grim, "they didn't mind the wings. In fact, they loved the wings. Especially since they got eight different publishers and magazines into a bidding war for the all-exclusive rights to my life story, complete with photographs and interviews with the freak himself." His voice was indescribably bitter.

"Oh, no," Max said. "They were going to tell people?"

"They were going to turn me into a sideshow freak," Iggy said. "I mean, a really public one."

Tally swallowed her joy and settled for the sympathy.

"I'm so sorry, Ig," Max said, reaching out to rub his shoulder. "I thought they were the real thing."

"That's just it," he said, anger showing on his face. "Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. But they _felt_ like the real thing, and the real thing wanted to make money off of me."

"I', so sorry, Iggy, really. But, I'm happy you're back."

"I'm glad to be back too," said Iggy. "Even before they went nuts on me, I just missed you guys too much."

"This is great, and we'll have a group hug later," Fang interrupted, "but can we pay attention to what's happening below?"

"What type of ruckus is going on?" Iggy questioned silently. Tally let her wing brush against his for just a small moment. "Oh, that kind."

"Hmm," Max said. "Something's missing down below. Some important puzzle piece. Oh, I know: It's me. Hang on, guys." She folded her wings and dived down with her unnatural speed.

Tally watched the sort of annoyed flash in Fang's eyes and had to force down her smirk.

_Bet she's going to try to wound their pride somehow. Jab at them; mess with Anne's head before getting the heck out of here… _

She wandered over to Fang, raising one snowy white eyebrow only to receive dagger glances from him.

Max flew back up to them, saying "_Vámonos,_ there's no one here but people to leave."

But _nooooo_, nothing was ever easy in a mutant's life. Tally gritted her teeth when she saw a whole freaking flotilla of Erasers flying towards them, clenching her fists. _Oh crap._

"Uh-oh—this is a new batch, guys," Max called. "These Erasers can actually fly. Move it!"

"Through the woods!" Fang called and Max nodded.

"Rendezvous at the bat cave," Max added. "Make sure you aren't followed!"

Tally frowned heavily before diving into the trees behind the rest of the Flock, zigzagging between the trees like the rest, while trying not to clip her wings, avoid branches and anger seeping through her when she heard snarling Erasers right on her tail.

_Ah, shi—_ She thought, flapping harder to get some more speed. _I can't do this!_

She broke up through the tree tops, spotting Fang fifty feet away. _Must mean the rest of the Flock got away. _

"Tal! Duck!"

She dropped a couple feet and missed the upper cut an Eraser was aiming at her. _Oh awesome, just pick on me, why don't you?!_ She opened her hand at the Eraser. She didn't feel like burning her shirt because of Eraser blood and chunks, so she just froze it in mid air, watching horror flicker in it's eyes before it fell through the tree tops.

Max appeared as well, bursting through. When she saw Tally about to help Fang fight off some Erasers, she yelled out. "Talon! Get to the cave!"

She had some moment of hesitance before she nodded and left. She encountered only one Eraser on her way there, where she put into practice some kicks and punches than flew away like a bat out of hell.

When she finally arrived she saw Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy and Total at the mouth of the cave, keeping a lookout for the rest of them. "Tally! Where's Fang and Max?"

_Fighting,_ Tally mouthed before running a hand through her bangs. Almost as soon as she said that, she caught sight of them in the air. _Finally, geez._

"Max!" Nudge said, jumping up and giving Max a hug as soon as her feet touched the terra firma. It was Hug Fest two thousand something. Tally just stayed off to one side, watching it all with a bit discomfort before Nudge attacked her in an embrace.

She patted her back awkwardly, her lips twitching up.

"Are they gone?" Gazzy asked once the touchy-feely moment was over.

"For now," Max said. "Fang kicked Ari's butt."

"Way to go!" Iggy said, holding up his fist. Fang bumped fists with him, trying not to look to pleased with himself.

Max laughed at something Nudge said out of the corner of her mouth before she began one of her monologues. "Okay, guys," she said. "New agenda. Forget looking for our parents. We've hit a dead end. And besides, I don't think that I could bear to give one of you up again right now. How about moving on to saving the world?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here," said Total, looking up at her.

"But where to?" asked Nudge.

"I've been thinking about that." Max began.

"Florida," said Angel.

"What? Why?" Max asked.

"I just feel like Florida is where we should go," Angel said, shrugging. "Plus, you know, Disney World."

"Yes! Disney World!" said Gazzy.

"Swimming pools, sunshine—I am so there," Total agreed.

Tally's hand was itching to smack her forehead. _I thought we were running for our lives, not on some whacky vacation with Eraser-y pit stops._

"Well, okay, then. Florida it is. Grab your packs."

-

Okay, see, the problem with play fighting in the air while you have a dog in your arms is—okay, it really is self-explanatory.

Gazzy bumped into Iggy while the Flock was doing a vertical stack, Tally just going with the flow in between Iggy and Fang. And well, Total was in his arms so when Gazzy did this normally innocent thing, it caused Total to go plummeting to the ground.

And Talon's freezing powers wouldn't be useful up in the air. On the contrary, it probably would have screwed everything up more.

So, Max had to go streaking down, through the wet clouds while the rest of the Flock circled above. Tally sighed (which she seemed to be doing a lot of lately).

_Max'll get him, Angel, don't worry._ Tally thought, offering her best comforting smile to the six year old before flapping her wings a bit more to get to where Nudge was talking a million words a minute, trying to distract everyone.

By the time that Max burst back through the clouds, all of them were a little bit more than antsy. Chances were that the same thousand horrific possibilities that were flying through her head were flying through the rest of the flock's head.

"You got him!" Angel shouted happily. "You saved him!"

Total wiggled excitedly in Max's arms before she let him into Angel's arms.

_She's crying…_Tally noticed with a couple of startled blinks. She turned her head to Max, watching the emotions cross her face. She probably was thinking that it wasn't good that Angel had gotten so attached to Total, and by the way her eyes flickered to Tally, she was probably reminding herself that she couldn't trust Talon as much either.

Talon sighed, reaching her hand down to fiddle with the hem of her windbreaker.

**A/N: O.O So many reviews…! Uh….I'd run around glomping all of you and giving you cookies but I'm afraid you all put restraining orders on me and just steal my Oreos….**

**Um, anyways! **

**Review replies for Chappy 5:**

**Arisa Amane: ****Well, nee-chan, I like fangirling over them too. My friends do too when I snap out my sketch book and show them my latest fanfic pairing. ^-^ (But if Tally was real, I'd probably end up glomping her any how.)**

**Midge: ****Thank chus, thank chus. ^-^ Just got my Max Ride Manga and saw the Erasers when I thought, "I should throw some Erasers in, make a cute situation pure heck." –shrugs- I'm evil that way. ^-^**

**Roxie:**** Aw! Thank you! (Uh, tips for writing….well, ah, I don't really pay attention in Language Arts…eh, uh, tips for writing are on my profile if you'd like )**

**Ruko777****: Have I mentioned I love your username? Something about it just appeals to me… (random moment over) Glad you're enjoying it! Don't worry, I won't stop, I'm far too obsessed!**

**6Dark6Flyer6:**** Thank chus! Glad you like Tally's little quirks!**

**Tjaiden:**** Mm, thank you! I haven't heard from you in a while!**

**Hopekills16****: Thank chu!**

**for the love of Iggy****: Uh, O/////O thank you! It still surprises me when people actually compare me to Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling and even James Patterson! You very sweet! Have I said "thank chu" yet? Oh well, here it is again!**

**Oh, and people? Well, Ah, I changed my profile picture. Now, it's a picky of what I drew Tally to look like. ^-^ **

**And to those of you that have witness my exuberance before, my knack for going above and beyond with characters is still going!**


	8. Chapter 7

Dark Blue

Chapter 7

"Come on, one more time," Iggy wheedled.

"No," said the Gasman.

"One more time."

"No. It's no fun. You always win, like, right away."

Tally flew right above and ahead of all of them; ominously beating her sooty wings. A small smirk wormed its way to her features. _At least he isn't moping around, I feel bad for Gazzy, but this is still better, _she thought.And she was pretty sure the rest of the Flock appreciated having him back to normal, too.

Then, her eyes flickered over the landscape, her brows scrunching together when she saw a big mass of blue interrupting the scenery. She pulled back in the air, alarmed. _What the heck is this?_

She tensed her hands, her eyes fixed on it while still hearing the beating of the others' wings. _Why aren't we stopping?! Don't they see that—that thing?!_

"What's wrong, Tal?" Iggy asked her after feeling the waves of unease rolling off of her.

She let her wing brush against his on the down stroke, sending him a quick and brief picture of what she was seeing.

"What is that…?" He muttered to himself. "It looks like water…"

"The ocean!" said Gazzy, pointing.

_Ocean…? What's that? _ Tally thought helplessly just as some semblance of revelation appeared on Iggy's face.

"Oh! It's the ocean," he said, nodding to himself, keeping up with her, flap for flap. "Uh, it's just a huge amount of water, harmless, unless you don't know how to swim. Then you'd probably drown and become fish food."

_Never thought that I'd think this, but thank God I did those stupid water experiments… Geez._

"Can we go to the beach? Please? Just for a minute?" Gazzy asked Max.

_Beach, um, I think that one's like a river bank but better somehow? _She questioned herself, fiddling with her windbreaker out of nervous habit.

"It's almost winter," Max hedged.

"But the water's not cold," Iggy countered.

A moment of silence in which the younger ones of the Flock waited with bated breath. _Is the beach supposed to be _that_ good?_ Tally wondered.

_Yes,_ Angel answered, giving Tally one of her cute smiles.

"Hey, guys, wanna go to the beach?" Max asked. _Wait, wasn't she just against all this a moment before?_

"Yeah!" said Gazzy, punching one fist in the air.

"Yes, yes," Angel said happily.

"I'm up for it," said Total, in Fang's arms.

Nudge and Iggy cheered while Tally just shrugged when Max's eyes landed on her.

Talon turned her eyes back to the land below, analyzing the big splotch of blue in her vision with raptor eyes. _It can't be threatening if Max is allowing us to land there._

When, all of a sudden, Talon heard Max talking agitatedly. "Yeah," she said. "This is a huge, freaking, unbearable _headache!"_ And by the end, she was nearly shouting.

Max's eyes scanned the six heads that were turned towards her, Tally didn't get a chance to catch what she said to Fang before she zipped off with her "warp drive."

_Oh no,_ Tally thought just as her brother poured on the speed (much slower than Max but still fast) and launched himself, trying to get to her fast. _This can't be good._

She bit her lip hesitantly before sending herself hurling through the air after him, the rest of the Flock trailing behind them. She hadn't gone that fast since she was escaping the Facility.

Her body was really worn out by the time they finished their little show of velocity, but she didn't have time to complain as she skidded to a stop on the ground.

Fang had already ran ahead of them, to where Max was—

—why was Max kneeling on the ground, the sand drenched in scarlet blood?

Tally slowly approached them, the rest of the bird kids following her steps.

"Want the chip out," Max said brokenly, looking down. She looked so much older than fourteen right then, turmoil aging her far beyond her years.

"Look where you're cutting!" Fang snapped. "You're going to bleed to death, you _idiot!_" He threw her hand down and took off his backpack. In the next moment he was dumping antiseptic into the wound, making Max wince.

Tally was just a stone pillar; her hand frozen on Iggy's relaying everything that was happening, picture by picture, squeezing the life out of his hand. Not that he wasn't clutching just as hard as Tally was. Nudge was actually brave enough to go up to Max and speak.

Tally just barely heard what they were saying so she gathered her bearings and inched closer to them. "Max," Nudge said, the terror in her voice giving her away, "what were you doing?"

"I wanted to get the chip out," Max whispered.

"Well, forget it," Tally's brother said angrily, now starting to bandage Max's arm. "The chip stays in. You don't get off that easy! _You_ die when _we_ die!"

"I'm sorry," She glanced at his face and before any one could predict it, she burst into tears.

Tally bit her lip, watching as Fang wrapped his hands around her, letting her cry on his shoulder.

Talon pulled Iggy forward before crouching next to Fang, stroking Max's back in what she hoped was a soothing manner. Nudge began making hushing noises while stroking her hair.

"It's okay, Max," Iggy said, sounding shaken. "Everything's okay." But Tally could only find reasons to disagree with that statement. The only thing that seemed _right_ with it; was the fact that all of them were together.

A while passed, just comforting Max before she composed herself and apologized.

"We didn't _have_ to go to the beach, Max," the Gasman said. And almost as soon as she saw his frightened eyes did Tally put her free hand on his shoulder, giving it a good squeeze.

Max gave a sort of choking laugh and reached forward to ruffle his hair. "It wasn't that, Gazzy. Just other stuff, getting to me."

"Like what?" Iggy asked.

Max sighed heavily and wiped her eyes. "Stuff. The Voice in my head. Everyone chasing us. School. Anne. Ari. Jeb. They keep telling me I'm supposed to save the world, but how, and from what, I don't even know."

Angel reached out and patted Max's knee. "From, you know, after everything gets blown up and most of the people are gone. We'll be stronger, and able to fly, so we can leave the blown up parts and find some nice land that isn't blown up or cantan— contama—"

"Contaminated?" Iggy provided, and Angel nodded.

"Yeah, that. Then _we_ can keep on living, even if there are hardly any people left."

Everyone lapsed into silence, as if they were all mute like Tally, while said person had a bunch of questions bubbling on her tongue that would never get out.

"Uh…where did you hear that, sweetie?" Max asked.

Angel sat back on her heels and trailed her fingers through the cool sand. "At the School. I wasn't supposed to hear it, but that's what they thought." She sounded so _nonchalant!_

"Who's going to blow up the world?" Gazzy asked indignantly.

Angel shrugged. "Lots of people can—they have big bombs. Countries and stuff. But the people at the School kept thinking it would be just one company, a business company. They think it's going to blow up the world, mostly. Maybe even by accident."

_Now_ Talon was on blank mode, unable to make anything make sense.

"And what company was that?" Max asked.

Angel looked off into the distance, frowning. "Don't remember," she said. "Like, the name of a deer or something. A gazelle. Can I go swim?"

"Uh, sure," Max said faintly.

Angel then proceeded to getting her bathing suit out happily, her brother following after getting approval from Max.

Iggy let go of Tally's hand and followed the sound of Nudge's foot steps, sitting on a big rock and sifting through their backpacks for some protein bars.

Talon, herself, just chose to wander off and sit on the beach, far away from the winding tide, holding her chin in one hand while doodling in the sand absentmindedly.

_FWISH!_

Tally stiffened, blinking through her wet hair. _Gazzy,_ she thought evilly lifting her hand in the air, whirling around and freezing him just as he was moved his arm in an arc to splash her.

She grinned at him before extending her wings out and then whooshing them forward to blast him back wards into the water, grin still in place when he came sputtering out of the water. _Serves him right. _

"Hey!" said Angel, standing up knee-high in water. "I can talk to fish!"

_Whaaaaaat?_ Tally got up, brushing the sand off of the back of her jeans and wringing the water out of her hair, never minding the black streaks that appeared in her line of sight. _I need to find a faster way to get rid of this stupid white hair_, she noted before following Max.

"Ask one over for dinner," Fang said, just as the rest of the Flock approached.

The Gasman shook his head like a wet dog. "You can _not_," he said.

"I'll prove it!" Angel dived back under the water.

"She talks to fish now?" Iggy whispered to Tally, letting his arm lie on her shoulders, leaning down to speak in her ear. She shrugged one shoulder.

And then, well, she froze for the second time that day as a six foot shark surface, mouth open, maybe two yards away from Gazzy. It took Tally two whole seconds to quell her urge to gasp, and when she did, she opted to send some pictured to Iggy, watching his mouth fall open comically.

Max jumped into the water and hauled Gazzy back towards shore. Angel popped back out of the water and Max urged her to do an up-and-away. She laughed.

"He's my friend!" she shouted. "He's saying hi!" The shark had circled and was now moving right toward her. _Oh dam—_ "Go on, maybe you should wave," Angel said to the shark just as Iggy's arm fell to Tally's waist, most likely to throw her in the air if they had to do an up-and-away towards some medical facility.

But, before all of their eyes, the shark turned on its side and waved its fin slightly.

"Holy cra—," the Gasman began, but Max said, "Gazzy!"

"Would someone please tell me what the heck is going on?" Iggy asked a bit louder when Tally just watched on in amazement.

"Angel just made a shark wave its fin at us," Nudge told him breathlessly.

"Uh—wha…?"

Talon stiffened even more when she saw three more sharks appear in the shallow water around Angel. Together, the four sharks turned on their sides and waved their fins.

Angel was laughing. "Isn't that great?"

Tally touched the hand Iggy had around her waste faintly, showing him the full view of things. Of the Flock standing there like slack jawed idiots (her included) while Angel "talked" to some very dangerous sea dwelling predators.

Total trotted up to Max, his little feet kicking up sand. "That's awesome1 Make them do it again!"

"That was neat, sweetie," Max said, most likely about to plop down in exhaustion. "Now please ask the sharks to leave, okay?"

Talon sighed, pressing her cheek onto Iggy's shoulder. _Ah, crap. That was one of the tensest instances of my life. And it was caused by a six year old! What's up with that?!_

"So, Angel talks to fish, is that right?" Iggy said carefully. "And this is useful how?"

_Hm, is she part fish as well as bird now? Or is she going to sprout a scaly tail next, jump in the ocean and swim around like Ariel from the _Little Mermaid_?_

_-_

I really think people take for an idiot.

I mean, Iggy and Tally were always alone somehow, or off in their own world—and when they were in their own personal world they'd be smiling at each other all gushingly.

So, I connected the dots.

The way she shadowed him half the time, when she'd pecked him on the cheek at night back at Anne's, when she gave him one right on the mouth when we were leaving him with his psycho parents, the way they oriented themselves around each other… Then there was that little cherry on the top.

I had weaseled it out of the rest of the Flock: Apparently, Iggy was trying to "see" her when her powers weren't working.

That, and they were trying not to tell me that they were "sorta kinda" together.

If you think that I was going to blow up about that, then you would be wrong. (And I bet it's the same people in the back who go "ew" whenever we have to gut a fish or are fighting against some Erasers and it starts raining flesh due to our wonderful Trio of Pyromaniacs.)

I was actually happy for them. Iggy, out of us, had suffered the most recently. Having actually lived with his parents only to have them turn into selfish money needing freaks—well, yeah, I wasn't about to go and ruin what shred of happiness he had found in Tally.

And Tally really wasn't bad at all. Sure, she would be on my suspicion meter until I could prove that she wouldn't pull a Jeb or an Anne—yep, right up there next to Total.

If you don't get my sarcasm, well then, I guess I found someone worse at this shi—I mean—this crap called life.

Plus, she's starting to look more like Fang every hour.

What used to be the barely noticeable black roots on the crown of her head were now becoming fully defined streaks, the rest of her hair bleeding to black every day. And her eyes didn't blend in against the whites of her eyes anymore. Slowly, but surely, a black pupil and iris were forming.

Um, getting back on topic, I suppose I would just deal with Tiggy action until one of them screwed up majorly.

**Review Responses:**

_**(2)DarkMax1996**_**: Thank chu! **

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_**for the love of Iggy**_**: S'ank chu, s'ank chu! Chu welcome! Glad I'm being consistent with my JP writing style!**

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_**VampiresandHorses4ev3r**_**: Um, yeah. My fault. She reached down to fiddle with her windbreaker. I fixed it now. **

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_**Arisa Amane**_**: Um, yeah, I fixed it. It was my fault. She fiddled with her windbreaker. I know! Oreos are too yummyful! (I did a happy dance when I got to write the little Tiggy moments again)**

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	9. Chapter 8

Dark Blue

Chapter 8

Tally stretched her arms above her head, before claiming a spot of dirt by Iggy, glaring at the two little human children that had wandered into their camp site.

They had the definite makings of something suspicious.

Sure, she knew that there were humans by the hundreds on the streets, but did that mean they just randomly chose to wander away from the street where people would give them money in favor of the unforgiving Ocala National forest? Yeah, didn't think so.

And then, they had said the key thing that sent fear tumbling into all of them. "Like doctors in white coats," Tally was very close to launching herself in the air when that happened.

Tally just shook her head and settled down on the dirt, lying neatly on her side. Then she let the Sand Man give her a little help.

-

I had third watch, from 4:00 to 7:00 a.m. or whenever everyone else woke up. I never really minded night watches. All of our sleep patterns were permanently screwed, so it wasn't like I needed my forty minutes of REM all together. I woke instantly as soon as Iggy touched my arm. And why was the blind guy on _watch_, you might ask? Because a cockroach couldn'6t come within fifty feet of us without his knowing it. Iggy on watch meant I could relax, or at least, relax as much as I ever did. Which, okay, is not that much.

As I prepared myself in for my shift, I saw Iggy plop himself down by Tally, feeling her stir and I saw her open her eyes when he pulled her to himself, but they closed just as soon as she saw who was holding her.

If Iggy could see, than the last thing he would have seen was my mocking grin. _Then he says _I_ cause tears, violence and mayhem. How about him going around with Fang's sister? _Can you say weird much?

-

Touch me, and I'll chomp your fingers off,_ Tally thought, reliving one of her many memories. _

_She couldn't really _see_ anything because of the damn blindfold, but that didn't mean she couldn't hear the taps of shoes on linoleum. _Touch me; I'll claw your eyes out,_ she thought viciously, baring her teeth. Her knees were curled up against her, hands around them and her head bowed in the uber-small chicken wire lined dog crate. Plus, her wings were smashed against her back. _

"_This is Experiment Ghost?_" _a very annoying voice asked to her right. _

"_Yes,_" _answered another. _

"_So, I finally get to dissect an avian-human hybrids brain!" he responded, sick glee in his voice. _

Wait, what?! Disect!?_ Talon thought, panicked. _Haven't they messed me up enough?!

"_Of course, after experiment 11 escaped with the other hybrids, well, you deserve something for that bite it gave you."_

"_Are you positive this one will not cause anyone to combust?" A different voice._

"_Yes, its molecular acceleration has been neutralized."_

"_Good, Eraser 1, transport it to surgery room 52."_

-

"Tally, wake up."

She tensed, opening her eyes, but she didn't see the darkness that caused her to get all twitchy and anxious. No, she saw light and fogged over blue eyes starring eerily at her own white ones.

_What's happening?_ she questioned, pulling herself to her feet, tapping Iggy's hand to let him know she was up.

_You were having a nightmare, Iggy stayed here since you wouldn't wake up from your nightmare, but now we have to leave. Those kids were traitors,_ Angel thought to her.

_And how did I just _know_ they were good for nothing liars?_ She thought sarcastically before bustling over to Iggy and stuffing stuff into both their packs. She soundlessly put hers on before snapping her wings out and jumping into the air, Iggy following her.

"Talon?" Max called, slowing so she was on Tally's side. "Are you alright?"

An eyebrow rose. Max clearly understood her "what are you talking about?" vibe. "It's just, you were, I dunno, very into that nightmare. Care to talk about it?"

Tally weighed her options quickly. Either comply to Max or not, and have her suspicion meter go up.

Sighing inaudibly, she let her wing brush against Max's momentarily.

Tally just stared ahead, not wanting to see Max's face in that silent moment. "I'm so sorry Tally."

_Why is she apologizing, we all went through the same thing, didn't we? I don't need pity. _Talon shrugged before giving another flap of her wings, putting her a good twenty feet above everyone, plenty enough space to quell her sudden urge to turn around and go punch those scientists' faces in when they went to retrieve the sniveling kids.

An hour and a half later, all those uncomfortable emotions had dulled down, and they were at least a hundred and something miles away. Of course, they had made a pit stop at some library to look up the big bad company that was popping out hybrids and new enemies like popcorn at a movie theater.

Itex.

The company that quite possibly was aiming for world domination, and perfection, and all that crap: oh, and lets not forget! They also intended to make children's lives living heck because they just felt like unraveling innocents babies DNA for the sake of grafting wings into them.

So, that just caused Tally to sink into an even more petulant mood.

Oh, and what was fairly _great_ was that Nudge and all the younger kids were badgering Max about Disney World. Which just caused her to turn very sarcastic very fast… it was that—or the fact that running on nothing but a few protein bars didn't really help put Tally in a good mood.

She waited with the rest of the Flock for Max's answer.

Max gritted her teeth. "Fine. A couple of rides, some cotton candy, and we're out of there."

Talon blinked. Once, then twice before a grin came over her features. _Cotton candy! That means that there will be _real_ food! As Total would say: No more of this barely a thousand calories crap!_ If she could've, Tally would have probably been jumping around in glee. But no, she just chose to grin.

-

As soon as they arrived, Tally went into a store and picked out tree things. A convenient little leather vest for Total that said "Guide Dog at Work. Do Not Pet. Thank You," some sunglasses for Iggy so that they could blend in without people wondering why the heck they let a dog in, and why a blind kid was running around unassisted. Tally purchased some shades for herself too, so that she wouldn't get the usual "are you blind?" reaction out of everyone she encountered.

She stuck pretty close to Iggy as well, their fingers laced together in a way that it was pretty hard to see if their hands had just _poofed_ away or if they even had any.

Tally saw a grin appear on Iggy's face. She squeezed his hand questionably. And like always, he knew what she was thinking. "Nothing Tally," he said, but his facial expression suggested otherwise.

Her head tilted to the side, _Whaaat? _She thought, slightly annoyed. But, she opted for a different approach as they got into the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride with the rest of the Flock.

She poked him in the stomach—repetitively. For a whole minute until he gave in.

"Dang it! Quit it before you poke something that's important, I'll tell you," He said huffily, squirming away from her as best as he could without revealing their hands to anyone.

"People were whispering about a blind couple, alright?"

Talon blinked. _Hm, and that just caused him to spontaneously smile? The thought of a blind couple? Ah geez. _

She glanced around in a very paranoid way to make sure no one was looking, or morphing into a snarling Eraser for that matter, before she got on her tip toes and gave Iggy a quick peck on the lips.

And his grin was back.

-

Tally munched on some cookies from the Disney Starbucks quietly, stopping now and again to take gulps of her very cold Cinnamon Dulce Frappa-something. Okay, the name was ridiculously long, and she had to repeat it in her head on continuous loop before telling the cashier that, only for her to forget about a minute later. Good thing she had Angel, always good to have a mind reader on hand for when you feel that early on-set Alzheimer's sneaking up on you.

"I want my own treehouse like that," Gazzy said around a mouthful of cotton candy. "I mean, for all of us. Wouldn't that be cool?"

"So, so cool," Angel agreed, ice cream dripping down her wrist. Tally got a bit twitchy when she saw the mess and handed her a stack of napkins to her. "Can we do the Swiss Family Treehouse again?"

"Maybe after lunch." Biting off a piece of her ice cream sandwich, Max did a subtle 360 sweep.

"We could make one," Iggy said. "Find a humungous tree and build our own treehouse."

"Yeah!" said Gazzy, pushing another wad of cotton candy into his mouth. "We could do it! I know we could."

Tally's smiling muscles twitched from suppressing a huge laughing smile. _But that wouldn't be at all safe with you two building bombs, and me blowing stuff up._

Max rubbed the Gasman's shoulder. "Okay. I'll put that on our list of things to do. Try not to eat too much junk, huh, Gazzy? I son't want you hurling on Splash Mountain." He grinned at her, one that reminded Tally of his real age.

"This way to Frontierland," Fang said, pointing to a sign.

Tally downed the last few drops of her beverage before tossing the paper cup in the garbage. "First, Frontierland, and then—looks like the only good thing in Liberty Square is the Haunted Mansion."

"I want to see Mickey's Country House," Angel said.

"That's in Toontown Fair place," Max told her. "We need to go through some other stuff first. But we'll go."

A hand slipped into Tally's, a leash being pushed into her other. "It's _your_ turn to drag Total around." He whispered into her ear.

She nodded, and strolled along, moving ahead of the rest of the Flock.

"You know what's creepy?" Nudge said, eating caramel popcorn. "A chipmunk that big." She pointed at an adult-sized costumed chipmunk who was waving and walking around.

Tally twitched. _Ah, geez, keep that thing _away_ from me…It gets near me, expect chaos to ensue…_

"Who is that?" Total asked. "Chip? Or Dale?"

"Don't know," Max said. "As long as he doesn't turn into a huge, chipmunky Eraser, I'm good. Yo — look. There's Splash Mountain. Line doesn't seem too bad."

"Is your dog talking?"

Talon froze before making a point of sending a glare at Total._ Should've put duck tape on his mouth before we came here. Can't keep his mouth _shut, she thought, a round of dagger glances aimed at the small Scottie dog.

Max turned around and said something to the girl before waving her off. Talon, of course, didn't catch it, and was far to caught up in squeezing the life out the leash.

But Iggy tugged her forward in the direction that the Flock was heading.

-

_That was fun!_ She thought, laughing when Iggy shook his head like a dog.

"That was _so great,_" the Gasman said happily.

"Splash Mountain really lives up to its name," Nudge said, bouncing on her heels.

"I hated that ride," Total sounded grumpy. Tally just wrung the water out of her shirt, throwing little drops of water onto Iggy's face.

"Let's go again!" Gazzy exclaimed.

They were almost all the way through the exit when Max froze, everyone else bumping into her. "Turn around," She said under her breath. "Bandada—nayshapay."

"No—oh, no," Gazzy whispered. "I can't believe it. Not now."

But Max was already pushing all of them back through the exit.

"Sorry, kids," the attendant said. "You have to exit out that way only."

"No, no," Max said urgently. "We left our digital camera in the log! Mom will kill us! We just need to run back and check…."

The attendant paused for a moment, but that was all Max needed to force the rest of the Flock past him. "Excuse us, excuse us, coming through!"

They ran along one wall, all constantly looking over their shoulders to make sure there weren't any Erasers chasing them.

"here!" Fang said, stopping suddenly. Tally nodded, grabbing Iggy's hand and shot through it, ending up in a dimly lit corridor. They sprinted, the squelches and taps of their boots and sneakers hitting the floor echoing.

When they were finally outside they did an up-and-away."

_Well, that was completely unexpected,_ Talon thought grimly, hands clenching and unclenching as they flew at only who-knew how many miles per hour.

A faint buzz reached her ears, and she looked back only to see a helicopter. _Oh shish-kebabs. _

"Okay, guys, scatter and zoom," Max instructed quickly. Meet up in fifteen minutes, same heading."

"C'mon Tally, this way," Iggy said, shearing off with her on her tail. _Fine by me, you're the one who can actually understand half of the maneuvers Max tells us to do…_She thought, scowling.

A few minutes later, they met up with the rest of the Flock who were waiting for them on the ground, wings out.

"Where to next, boss?" Iggy asked.

Max rolled her eyes. "We need to find a car."

_Car? What about a junk yard?_ Tally asked Angel while reading over Max's shoulder.

Angel relayed the message. "Yeah, no one would miss it. You know where there might be one?" Max said, looking around.

Talon nodded, pointing behind Max at the gigantic mountains of rusty junk.

"Oh," Max said.

**A/N: Dang, this story is getting lots of reviews. Well, responses:**

_**August Claire:**_** Thank you! I will continue! Don't worry!**

_**Midge:**_** Okay, I'll try! Glad you like it!**

_**DarkMax1996**_**: Hm, can I see what you wrote? You got me really curious! Glad you liked the chapter!**

_**for the love of Iggy**_**: Uwah?! You've never told another authoress that? Dang. Now you got me blushing—again. Thank you for reviewing! And stay away from those ninja! Theyz evil!**

_**hopekills16: **_**Thank chu! Glad you like it!**

_**LittleMissFallenAngel**_**: Thank you for reviewing! The POVs are confusing? But I styled it after JPs POV writing style…**

_**Flying-Squirrelz**_**: S'ank chu! Your username makes me go into laughing fits!**

**And finally: contest! Draw **_**your**_** version of Tally, and I'll pick out the best! Winner gets a one-shot of anything from uh: Death Note, Fruits Basket, Naruto, Elfen Lied, Harry Potter, Maximum Ride, Perfect Girl Evolution (Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge or Wallflower) or the Twilight Saga. And, REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 9

Dark Blue Chapter 9

Tally twitched irritably at the small car Nudge had chosen—the one that was easiest to repair, apparently.

"_How_ are all of us going to fit back there?" Nudge asked Fang and Max.

Sighing, Tally looked at Angel. _Angel, do you mind sitting on my lap?_ she asked tentatively.

_That's a great idea, Tally!_

And with that, Talon just volunteered to be the first one in, pulling the smaller girl onto her lap and leaning into the seat to give her room, wings pull tight against her back.

She gave the rest a blank stare, _There. Problem solved. Now let's get going before the Erasers start a-coming._

And so, Fang drove, Max sat in the passenger seat in the front with Total—and five bird kids stuffed in the back of the Toyota Echo tighter than Anne Walker in a pair of double-zero skinny jeans.

And it really didn't help that they had to duck their heads to avoid getting their heads banged against the top of the car.

Yep, that was genetics at its worst.

Talon's breath left her with a hacking cough when Angel fell against her chest after Fang pressed on the accelerator a tad bit too much. And by "a tad bit" she meant: _a whole lot more than he should have._

When night came, they had to turn off the car before all four older kids had to roll it behind some bushes (since they didn't want to chance Fang crashing it with his less-than acceptable driving skills) and settled themselves in some trees, swaying in the breeze.

Tally stayed up for a long time, just staring at the cloudy, inky black sky and the twinkling stars. She stayed awake long after Fang and Max finished their usual tête-à-tête, after a far off rooster started it's song, and after everyone woke back up.

When everyone woke back up, she had her chin propped up, doing and idle scan of the surroundings.

"You stay up all night, Tal?" Fang questioned blankly.

Talon nodded, rummaging in her pack for a granola bar, tossing two to her brother.

"You shouldn't do that," Max said, hopping down from her branch.

Talon just rolled her eyes, a clear sign for "Nah, for real?"

_As if I can fix my system to get to sleeping more often. I think I'm an insomniac. Or something._

She rubbed her eyes before leaning down on her own branch, stretching to flick Iggy's head.

"Ouch," he muttered. "Must you do that Tally?" He asked, turning his head straight at her. She just smirked.

"How are you sure it's her and not Gazzy? You didn't touch her feathers or feel her fingertips," Max commented skeptically.

"I know she isn't Gazzy because she doesn't reek," he answered, shrugging before jumping off of his own branch, white haired bird girl leaping after him.

_You got that right,_ she thought thankfully, walking over to Nudge to wake her up.

Well, when everyone was assembled and in the car, the oddest thing happened. As soon as the car started moving, Tally started nodding off. But couldn't she have predicted that? I-95 had to be the dullest thing to be traveling on—just a bunch of trees with the occasional armadillo or turtle crossing the road.

But then she heard a siren, and her eyes flashed open. _What the heck?_

_Police,_ Angel provided, giving Tally a blank stare. Just speaking with their eyes for one moment before making a silent agreement…

"Should we bail?" Fang asked, looking at the flashing lights in the rearview mirror.

"Probably," Max rubbed her forehead. (And Tally didn't miss for one second the flicker of worry in her brother's eyes, disappearing before anyone else noticed.) She turned to the rest of the Flock. "We'll stop, and as soon as it looks freaky, up and away, okay?"

Everyone gave solemn nods.

"I'm with Iggy," Total said, leaping into the backseat.

Fang pulled over and Tally once again saw when the two eldest of the Flock shared a look. _There's more than friendship in those glances._ Tally silently unlocked the door, eyes following the woman in uniform as she leaned down into Fang's window.

"Good morning, sir," she said, sounding unfriendly. _Well, someone put an Eraser in _her_ cereal today._ "Do you know how fast you were traveling?"

Fang looked at the speedometer, which hadn't moved since they'd pushed the car out into the darkness last night. "No," he said truthfully.

"I tagged you at seventy miles an hour," she said, bring out a shiny clipboard. _I wonder if I can snag one of those, they look dangerous. Probably be able to give Erasers pretty nasty bruises. _

Max let out an impressed whistle. "Excellent! I never thought it'd be that fast!"

Fang shot her one of his infamous "looks" and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Can I see you license, your registration, and proof of insurance?" the trooper asked, her knuckles fading white with the pressure she had on the clipboard.

_Angel, anytime now,_ Talon thought, shifting her hands so that they were on top of Angel's knees.

"Hi," said the little blonde.

The trooper looked at her through the window, her mouth dropping open the slightest bit when she saw all of them. "Are you from here? Florida is really flat, huh?" Angel said, getting the trooper's attention for a moment.

But a moment was all Tally needed. She flicked her hand up at the trooper, freezing her in place before clapping a hand on her face. _Go ahead Angel._

Angel nodded. "We're kind of in a hurry," she said pleasantly.

"You're in a hurry," the trooper said.

"Maybe you could just let us go," Tally closed her eyes and focused on putting a picture of the trooper smiling (something that seemed impossible) and backing off. "And sort of forget you ever saw us." Tally scrunched her eyes up as she forced that trooper to only see the spot where the car should have been, completely erasing them from the picture.

"I could just let you go," Tally barely heard her.

"You never saw us, or our car," Angel said. "There's a problem somewhere else, and you need to get there now." Tally made the image of a car and a big semi all squished together like accordions, flames flickering on the ground and people crowding around.

"I have to go!" she exclaimed, backing away from the car suddenly, like she was getting electrocuted. "There's a car crash off of the Turnpike!"

She left before Angel could even say anything.

Tally sighed warily before grinning the smallest bit and holding out her hand to Angel. Angel put her hand in Tally's. "That was cool Tally, she actually believed it all. She doesn't remember what any of us look like either."

"What just happened?" Iggy asked, shifting as best he could.

"Well, Tally just used her power to help me erase that lady's mind. Mind controlling and putting pictures in her head just convinced her of it. It's much safer than letting her go off, having seen us and everything," Angel said sweetly, a smile on her face.

Tally nodded sleepily before leaning her head back, hands clenching and unclenching.

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn't startled by sirens or anything, but they were at a big building's gates. _This must be Itex—not that the gigantic signs are _any_ indication. _Unless! _This is a big scheme, and Itex is hiding behind this building! Come on, I was expecting crocodile-d moats and lightning, and they give me this! I demand a refund!_

The result of her mental rant? Angel giggling like mad.

"Are you all here for the tour?" a man, (_is he Houdini? He came out of _nowhere!_ Or am I mixing things up again…is Houdini the magician dude, or am I mixing it up with that country dancing stuff…but saying "Hoedown" sounds so weird…)_ dressed in uniform asked pleasantly.

"Um, yes," Fang said. _And Max just happens to be starring fixedly at Fang's hands as if he's going to turn into Dracula. Isn't she supposed to be giving this guard person her scrutiny?_

"I'm sorry— the last one was at four," the guard said. "But come back tomorrow—tours are every hour on the hour, and they leave from the main lobby." He pointed through the gates to one of the larger buildings. _Uh, yeah, where are the all the bad people? This is Itex right? Not Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, right?_

"Um, okay," said Fang, putting the car into reverse. "Thanks."

_And you just love laughing at my commentaries. I bet Iggy does the same, try listening in to him, why dontcha?_ Tally directed the thoughts to the giggling girl on her lap.

_They _are_ funny, but Iggy was more into waiting for Erasers to pop up all over the place,_ Angel responded. _Where did you get all the movie things?_

_Um, yeah, watched a whole bunch of them while we were in Virginia, Iggy listened and made sarcastic comments and Gazzy stuffed his face with chips. _

Angel giggled some more and Talon leaned her head back, blowing up at her streaky hair. _Starting to look like I put _white_ streaks in. Should be back to normal in a week or two. _

When they got to the hotel, Tally made a point of fetching junk food from the local Seven-Eleven station, stocking up on medical supplies and shuffling around until she found some little doo-dads that looked interesting enough.

The cashier ringed everything up and Tally took out a credit card, one that said "Anne Walker." She forged the signature then sped up into a jog back to the hotel.

_Max!_ Tally thought when she saw Max holding a bunch of clothes and a bottle of shampoo in her hand.

She hurried her pace until she was side by side her. "Oh, hey Tally. Can you open the door? My hands are full," She said.

Talon nodded, fishing the key out of her pockets before unlocking the door and letting them in. She scanned the hall compulsively before locking the door again.

_Never can be too careful,_ and she dropped the bags in the corner, getting a pair of clean clothes from her pack and nodding thankfully at Max when she handed her the Shampoo.

And she was in—_lukewarm water, of course. Can't have a good shower when Maximum Ride is hogging all the hot water…geez, _Talon thought bitterly, scrubbing herself pink with a little washcloth she found stashed in a drawer.

And when she came out, she was squeaky clean with her semi-wet hair dampening her shirt. She hadn't bothered with pajamas. The hotel was only a small rest stop and the guys were sleeping in the same room as them.

Tally made a beeline to the only dirty bird kid in the room. The pale one who had a ring of dirt around his neck.

She let her fingers glide over his knuckles before prying his hand open and stuffing the shampoo in it, letting Gazzy lead him to the bathroom.

"Hey, Tally, your eyes are getting darker. They're still cloudy but they look like a shadow-ish gray," Nudge noted, appearing in front of her. "In front of her" apparently meant Tally had to cross her eyes to see Nudge correctly.

_They're never going to get un-foggy. The whitecoats just messed up with my DNA somehow then fixed my eyes. _

And then night came.

Fang and Max got the floor, Nudge got a bed to herself because of her apparent sleep-kicking problem, Gazzy and Angel got a bed to them selves (Total in the middle) and Iggy got the squishy chair by the door.

And where did that leave Tally? Well, she barely slept, so she just leaned her sigh against Iggy's legs looking at everything blankly.

Sometime in the course of the night, she completely zonked out, curled up in a little ball.

And of course, the next morning she woke up to Iggy shaking her awake. They were first up, followed by Fang, then the rest. Max had the great pleasure of waking up via the specialty of the house. Licking a lá Total.

She came swooshing up, hitting Total (who promptly jumped away, landing in Tally's arms). She blinked slowly.

"Max?" She looked up at Gazzy.

"Uh, what?" She said.

"I'm hungry."

"Right," she said. "So breakfast. Does the, uh, dog need to go out?" Tally shook her head before putting Total on the ground. _Since when does she call Total "dog"? Dogbreath, yeah, but she knows calling him dog will just stir him up into a rant. _

"We already went out," Angel told her, cocking her head to one side and Max gave her a big uncharacteristic smile.

Max walked over to the tiny kitchenette then opened the mini fridge. "Okay, how about some eggs?"

Talon froze up mid way to her bag (coincidentally ending up next to Fang). She turned around, looking at Max. _What in the name of toaster strudel? _"You're going to cook?" Fang asked, since, obviously Tally wasn't going to say anything.

"Aren't you hungry?" And the blank look she sent the Fang was the clincher. _Her eyes are different. She's looking at Fang all wrong. Where'd that emotion go?_

"Not _that_ hungry," Gaz muttered.

Tally blinked before moving to the kitchenette herself, Iggy following her. "We'll do it. Gaz, you pour juice. Nudge, get out the paper plates."

"But your blind and she's mute," Max said. _She's gone to the dark side, whatever shall we do. That joke sucked majorly, geez. She needs to freshen up on her remarks._

"You're kidding! I am?" Iggy said sarcastically, brushing past Max just as Tally rolled her eyes. "Who wants scrambled?"

"Me," said Nudge, raising her hand and then putting paper plates on the table.

Tally handed Iggy a fork to scramble the eggs with, followed by the salt.

"Nudge? Come over here and I'll fix your hair. We could do, like, pony-tails or something, get it out of your eyes."

Nudge gave Max a look. "You want to fix my hair?"

"Yeah," Max said then aimed her strangeness at Total, snapping her fingers. "Oh, and hey—you—off the bed."

"Why can't he sit on the bed?" Angel asked.

"Because I said so," Max said, beginning to brush Nudge's hair.

_Okay, freeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaky. _Everyone turned to look at Max. _Have the aliens kidnapped her brain, or is she just secretly taking drugs now?_

She noticed all the looks after a second then asked very oddly, "What?"

_We should be the ones asking that, shaking your shoulders, asking "Who are you, and what have you done with Max!?"_ Tally thought, shifting her wings a bit so that they wouldn't smack against Iggy's.

**A/N: ^-^ I'm late, I know, but I'm freaking tired and need ice cream. TT-TT**

**Arisa Amane: **I already responded to yours nee-chan.

**ErikNightLover**: Thank you for reviewing (three times!) ! I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

**K.K.**: Thank you! I usually write _horrible_ summaries!

**LitttleMissFallenAngel**: Thank you! I'm sure it loves your reviews as well! XD

**AugustClaire**: And Tally loves you too! Thank you for reviewing!

**hopekills16**: And here's the next chapter! I hope you love it just as much as it loves you!

**Albino00kid: **Chu welcome and thank chus! Here's the update! ^-^

**for the love of Iggy**: My e-mail link is on my profile. You just click e-mail on the top of the page and scan it, then send it to me attached to an e-mail. ^-^

**DarkMax1996**: I'm looking forward to seeing it! Really! My spring break ends today TT-TT but I get to get back to PE which I love. ^-^

**Keep the reviews coming people!**


	11. Chapter 10

Dark Blue

Chapter 10

Tally frowned at the thoughts Angel relayed to her. _She thinks Nudge never stops talking—but we all know that, so why is she thinking the obvious? She thinks Gazzy and Angel are annoying—which is completely surreal since Max _adores_ them. She can't "find chinks in Fang's armor" but why would she need to? They're best friends who know each other inside and out. Then she thinks Angel is creepy, Gasman is a gullible idiot, Iggy's dead weight and that I'm the eerily similar female version of Fang—only I'm a clean freak and make silly faces._

She and Fang shared a glance, still following this "Max" through the shadows and toward Itex. Both of their looks were obvious, they were both thinking— _definitely not Max._ (_I wonder if it's sibling instinct or that thingy called "twin telepathy"…?)_

She clenched and unclenched her hands, prepared to blow up anything that came their way, eyes flicking all over the grounds, not feeling like being captured and thrown back into a dog crate. _But who does? …Maybe zoo animals…now _they_ live the life of kings! Give them food, laze around all day…but a caged bird can't fly so I guess we've got _that_ better then them…_

Talon made a point of being the last one to climb into the vent. "Max" was up front, followed by Fang, then Iggy, and the younger kids were in front of Tally. _Just incase we get ambushed. That way Fang and Iggy can hold "Max" off and I can defend the younger kids if we get attacked from behind. An almost perfect plan—the one flaw? We're in a crawling in a tight enclosed space letting this person lead us around the baddies's hideout—does anyone else feel the claustrophobia settling in? No? Just me, alrighty then. _

And "Max" led them through the vents, going the wrong way than retracing her steps before they made it to the Itex computer room. She shooed all of them to the darkest corner of the room and the booted up one of the many computers. She motioned Nudge over and told her to hurry—_Bleah, too phony. She's laying it on too thick, _Talon thought before giving the room another 360 sweep.

She pulled on her sweatshirt a tad before wondering around the room towards a few books. _Newton's Laws, Encyclopedia of Ornithology—what the heck is that supposed to be? Something about birds? And then we have—oh wow, a cook book! I can just imagine it; "Hey, Bob! After we're done torturing some babies, well, golly-gee! Let's go cook up a batch of cookies! How does that sound, great pal of mine?" "Sure Tim, let me just finish throwing this experiment in its dog crate, do you think we can have some _milk_ with that too?! I'd just _looove_ that!"_

She shook her head in disgust as she went through more of the titles, then looked at a few speculatively before taking one that had "Journal" written in messy script on the spine and stowing it in the pocket of her windbreaker.

But then Tally whirled around when she heard Nudge crying.

She made a beeline to the motor mouth and crouched down by her chair, grabbing her hand and giving it a soft squeeze. _Definitely fake Max, she would've been comforting Nudge by now…she wouldn't have let me even attempt to try and be motherly towards her. _

They watched the video, Tally carefully blank as Nudge's parents cried and begged for their child to be returned to them. _So these are the types of _caring_ parents we were supposed to have? Ones who actually give a snot if we disappear? Sounds like a fairy tale to me…_she noted, holding Nudge's right hand with her own right and rubbing her back with her left, making shushing noises by pushing air through her closed teeth, her tongue nearly touching the roof of her mouth.

Suddenly Iggy pulled his head out from under the counter where he was fiddling with some wires, "Someone's coming," he said.

Tally immediately stood up, whirling around so that she was between the Flock and next to Fang. (_Geez, trying to be the motherly figure while the real Max is gone is so swooshy! Jump up! Comfort! Then turn around and prepare to kick some butt! But, I guess it's better than being a lazy buttmunch and kickin' back to watch the daisies bloom…I wonder what we're having for lunch today? Hamburgers a lá dumpster diving?)_

_Crash!_

And an Eraser burst through the computer room doors…_Max called this one Ari…_

"Scatter!" Fang yelled, launching himself at the wolfie boy.

Talon glared at the Erasers, ("Spiders!" Gasman shrieked in the background) raising her hands to start blowing things up but she then she fell to her knees startled, black consuming her vision. _What the hell is going on?!_

She opened and closed her fist at the ground, shaking her head to get rid of the darkness, but no explosion happened. _It's a metal blindfold—don't freak out, don't start freaking out, pretend it's…training! Oh God who am I kidding!? I haven't done this in _months! _I'm going to be turned into bird-kid flavored kibble! Or a chew toy! _

Talon stumbled to her feet, clawing at her eyes desperately when she heard Angel's earsplitting scream.

Talon Ghost jumped to her feet, groping at the floor clumsily before getting to them and running full force at whatever was holding Angel down. She rammed her fist, colliding with a furry hide. _Ari, _she thought.

"Oomph_,_" was his only response before he she felt him swipe at her with a paw, three slashes appearing across her cheek.

_Not going to get Angel god dang it!_ She thought furiously, delivering a roundhouse kick blindly only to have one paw hit her in the stomach then quickly strike at her feet. She blinked, trying to clear the darkness again, barely hearing anyone, but she felt her shirt starting to stick against her skin…or what was left of it anyways.

"Guys, guys!" Fang shouted, voice cutting through everything. "This can't be real! It isn't real!"

And in the middle of it all, another crash was heard, Tally turned her head in the direction while pushing herself up, forcing her raptor hearing to listen for the heavy panting breathing of the Eraser. _Dang it…what in the hell is happening now? Is it raining whitecoats…? Or better yet, is it raining Erasers? (I sure wouldn't be surprised…)_

"My invite must've gotten lost in the mail," Max, the _real_ one said venomously. "But I don't mind crashing this party."

And at that moment, Tally's vision came back as the blindfold _disappeared_. Talon quickly got to her feet and grabbed Angel subtly, moving over to the rest of the Flock. _It's a good thing I wear black all the time…so much easier to conceal blood…_she thought, placing the little girl on the ground before wincing at the pain in her stomach.

_If I haven't fainted yet or can still make all these sarcastic thoughts, then I can't be serious…probably some superficial scratches…_she noted, wiping her hand across her mouth when she felt a wetness trailing down.

She glanced at her long olive fingers, frowning when she saw the scarlet and quickly wiping it on her pants. A spare glance at her brother told her that they had all the superficial injuries you got dealt when you fought with an Eraser, or rather, when it swatted you around like a pesky mosquito that was buzzing in its ear.

Tally barely caught any of the stuff that was happening with the Maxes. She did, however catch when Angel called "Max" an idiot for not knowing she could read minds.

After Total said his little quip and Max II was left gaping Max came around inspecting all of the Flock, hugging everyone.

Talon offered her one of her rare little grins when she was inspecting her, showing exactly how shaken up she had been. "You did great being in my place, but that's _my_ job, Tally," she whispered in her ear. Tally offered her a small smirk, saluting Max in a teasing way. _Ma'am, yes ma'am! _

Max rolled her eyes before stepping away from the Flock.

"Okay, let's solve your personality crisis," Max said, turning to her look-a-like.

Then the person they called Jeb walked in right in after Max told the other one to keep her hands off of _her_ Flock.

And something about his voice triggered a memory in Tally.

_-_

_She was standing in a room, feeling defenseless and scared in the scanty white scrubs they had given her. _

"_Begin trial one of the defense project," a voice came from the speakers. _

_She shivered before forcing all emotion off of her face. _To show them weakness is to risk being dissected…being deemed failed…._and no matter how much she hated being an experiment, something that could be failed, she _had_ to survive. _

"_Shouldn't you take off her blind fold?"_

"_Now, Batchelder, you have been gone with those other failed recombinants for two years. This one is not allowed to move without its blindfold unless you want your head blown off or risk it escaping. Have you gone soft?" the other colder whitecoat reprimanded. _

_Tally let her wings unfurl from her back when she heard snarling, beating them once to get her in the air only to have a current of electricity bleed through her body from the shock collar around her neck, covering her surgical scar. _

_So she just readied herself for a bloody battle…_

_Not that everyday of her life _hadn't_ been one._

_-_

Batchelder.

Jeb Batchelder had been at the Facility (or School as the Flock called them) in Virginia when they gave her a crash course in defense.

They had eventually given her the serum to neutralize her powers and given her her sight back which allowed her to copy most of the Erasers moves.

But she always came out beaten and battered. To be put in either the pool, the maze, the treadmill or into some type of battle the next day. All for the sake of _science._

Tally leaned down and grabbed the girls' hands when she saw the subtle signs of panic appearing in them. (Gazzy was fiddling with a small bomb.)

She held their small hands in her much larger ones, running her thumb over the backs as Max fought, gritting her teeth when she felt the blood running down Angel's hand.

_Should I go slap their wrists, Ange? Kick them in the shins? Or should I throw them into the crocodile infested moat I am _sure_ they have somewhere around here?_ She thought to the girl, half trying to distract Angel from the gruesome fight, and half trying to distract herself from the bubbling anger in her chest, ready to spew all over the place like a giant volcano. 

_Oh, kick their shins! That would be so funny! _Angel thought to her lightly, _Max is going to win anyways. She always does. _

Talon resisted a smile. Angel was just so dang _cute!_

And—_ow! Oh dang, that _had_ to have hurt. Has Max been watching professional wrestling lately? That just sounded plain nasty! Oh Poor Gazzy, being told to shut up by both Maxes…that sounds weird…_

_Right. That sounded as if I had turned into Nudge for a second there. Is this a result of blood loss? Nudge-influenced ramblings?_

_Dang, I just did it again. _

Angel giggled next to her, and that was the moment in which Gazzy finally was able to tell Max to duck.

A strong hand wrapped around her waist—_the injustice! I was about to jump inside that desk drawer and hope not to get blown up to bits!_—and yanked her under the desk, pulling them both so that they were relatively "safe" (_And my name is Minnie freakin' Mouse)_.

She made herself as small as possible, hearing the soft chuckles vibrating through Iggy.

_This is awesome!_ she thought. _Like one of the rides at Disney!_ _Except more violent! And ten times cooler than the dancing mechanical pirates from that Caribbean ride!_

After the aftershocks and Max hollering for a report, they rolled from under the desk, Tally giving the surroundings a full 360 and giving Iggy a picture.

He gave her an unexpected grin, one that just caused a grin to grow on her own features. "We're fine, Max, but I bet we look like giant dust bunnies with wings," Iggy said lightly, shaking dust out of his hair.

And then, the Flock left Itex, in a very anticlimactic manner, flying away into the sunset like grungy avenging angels who were dipped in flour and plaster. They beat their wings powerfully and strongly…until they had to land and check on everyone's injuries.

Tally plopped herself down on a patch of grass (after making sure there were no fire ants, because she didn't want ant bites on her butt) and began unzipping her windbreaker, like the rest of the Flock, and cleaning up her wounds.

_That was scary,_ she thought plaintively. _The darkness coming over me again. From what the whitecoats said, its called scotomaphobia. _

She watched as the younger kids curled up with each other and Max and Fang went off to a corner.

But she really couldn't complain because to strong hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her.

She made disgruntled noises under her breath, _Geez, Iggy, scare the crap out of me why don't you, ya pyro? _she so wanted to see his reaction if she suddenly drawled that. It'd be hilarious.

Heck, it'd be hilarious if he heard her say anything in _general. _Even a _"Gazzy sit on your clothes? They stink."_

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She pulled one of his hands to her face so that he'd feel her nod.

"Are you sure?" his hands flitted across the band aides she had over the claw marks.

She nodded again, truthfully. _Of course, I'm fine and dandy now that we ditched the fake Max. It didn't feel right without her…like a part of us was missing…And I've only been with the you guys for a few months!_

Her eyes flickered over to the two bird kids practically hiding in the darkness. She gave Iggy the picture of Max and Fang laughing all over each other, Fang's sleeves rolled up holding the can with his mouth stretched into a big smile and Max just turning red at all the laughing she was doing.

Iggy grinned, "You love birds over there better use protection!"

Tally burst our laughing as well, placing a hand over her mouth to muffle the awkward rush of air that left her mouth.

"You guys better as well!"

And then it was Tally's turn to turned as red as a tomato.

She gave her brother and indignant stare before flipping him the bird and sticking her tongue out, much in the same way that she did to Max when she was fussing with her uniform.

And that was how they spent the night.

Laughing and teasing each other until dawn.

_-_

_I used to feel so different from the Flock, I still do sometimes…we don't belong with normal humans. When we're around normal humans…well, we feel alone. _

_If you were to drop us in a crowd of humans and make sure we were all on different countries, we'd probably go insane._

_For one, none of us new any other language other than English, so we were utterly screwed in that sense._

_For two, all of us would feel too isolated, out own personal isolation tank of sorts. _

_We lived in a completely different world than any of these humans. Face it, _you_ reading this story probably haven't had to be squished inside of a dog crate to await your next torture. Your biggest problems are probably about school or the mundane things like bills and stuff. _

_You probably haven't had people tampering with your eyes or your voice, or your digestive system or your brain. You don't have wings grafted on your back either, do you?_

_But, I don't want to start Pity Fest of two thousand-something. _

_You've never been alone in a crowded room, or have you?_

_But our story isn't over here. _

_Max may get to narrate everything, but _I_ get to provide comic relief along with my…what _is _Iggy to me? Friend? Boyfriend?_

_And that dang journal…_

_Max's chip…_

_The whole Fax stuffs…_

_Hold on tight, I never said this was the last of it! _

_Are you ready for the wildest ride of your life? Are you ready to see a flying Ghost pull out her Talons? _

_Than buckle yourself in, cause I'm not done yet…_

_-Talon Ghost_

**A/N: Like Tally said. This is the last chapter of part one of Dark Blue. I'm not creating a whole new title for the next part. I'll keep it going under this same tab. I just did that because it is technically the end of "School's out—forever" and next up is "Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports." I can't give my usual responses 'cause I'm going on a fieldtrip and gotta get some 40 winks to wake up at some ungodly hour…**

**Please review!**

**-Maddy**

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	12. Chapter 11

Dark Blue

Chapter 11

Tally yawned before curling up into a small ball and closing her eyes.

She had switched off driving duty with her brother a few minutes ago, and now was listening to Iggy ask Max if he could drive. _Pestering, more like. And will Gazzy _ever _stop singing that dang song?_ Tally thought irritably.

Then Nudge reached over and started honking the horn—like, fifty bazillion times. And on the fifty bazillion and first time, Max yelled at her to _"stop it with the freaking horn!"_ That was when Talon did a mental happy dance. Sure, she loved Nudge like the cute little sister she never had, Angel too, and Max like the mothering older sister, and Gazzy like a brother, Fang _actually, more than likely __**was**_ her brother and Iggy…he was in no way related to her because their feelings for each other were _definitely_ not sibling-y.

She gave a soft sigh before burying her head in her crossed arms, biting her lip. _Does life always have to try to bite me in a butt? Talk about a literal buttmunch. _

"You alright, Tally?" Nudge asked, turning to her. "Cause if you weren't, than that would be really really, like, uber-bad. I like the word "uber," I think its German, or maybe Japanese. Japanese dumplings are awesome! They're called gyōza! And there really—" By that point somebody—most likely Max—had slapped their hand over her mouth.

Tally resisted the grin that was bubbling to her lips and settled for just nodding her head, frowning when she saw the one stubborn white streak in her hair that refused to make like a tree and _leave!_ What was she going to do? Resort to chopping it off like a hunk of cheese? Nope, she was pretty sure that hair cutting was some sort of abuse.

A hand was suddenly on her shoulder, squeezing.

And that was Tally's cue to put a hose on that fire that was coming up to her cheeks. She could swear it was _boiling hot lava_ not a _blush!_ And she could swear her heart skipped a beat…

_Great, beat up a zillion Erasers—sure, anyday. Not go all weak-in-the-knees blush-my-head-off when Iggy touched my freaking shoulder? No, far too hard for _this_ mutant bird girl. Wrong one, try Max—or heck, even Angel!_

Tally turned her head to Iggy, watching as his lips formed the question but no sound came out so as not to attract attention. "_Are you alright?" _

She unfolded one of her hands and tapped his hand twice before shutting her eyes again.

"You should learn to sleep at _normal_ times, Talon," Uh-oh, he said her full name. Never a good thing with _any_ of the Flock.

_Have you _not_ noticed the wings? We aren't _normal_ in any way. So chill._

But he didn't get that so she just settled for holding his hand away from the sight of everyone else…like always.

Max eventually got bored of everyone moaning about the bumps and bruises they were getting from being in a tin can (and Iggy pestering her) and they all launched themselves into the air.

-

_Football? I love Fang and all, but _football?_ That game where humans get themselves hurt intentionally while throwing a hog's _hide_ around like idiots and across boundaries? Geez, and Ig wants to do it too, someone please _kill_ me now. _

…_I wonder what's in that empty head anyways…twin telepathy my _elbow!

It seemed that Max and Talon were the only ones not into being in a cramped space, munching on popcorn while watching men do what Tally had deemed was "Macho Frou Frou ballet."

The black haired girl turned to Max, giving her a pained look.

"I know…" Max muttered, her own fists clenching.

Talon crossed her hands irritably, her eyes scanning across the ground. _Filthy. Nasty. Aren't humans supposed to be _clean?_ Yuck._

"…tiny little shorts. One of them has long red hair," Fang murmured to Iggy.

And Talon's blood boiled again, except this time for a different reason. _Stupid sons of—I mean jerks. Now I get why Max calls them all Sexist-pigs and Sexist-piglet from time to time. I'll freaking smack Iggy if actually _starts_ drooling. _

Her eyes, gray and fogged over, narrowed into a glare at both the cheerleaders prancing around like…stri—no, that isn't appropriate, and neither is (insert swearword of choice hear).

Well, her dagger glances alternated from the scantily clad girls and Iggy and her brother. She was trying _very _hard not to curse a blue streak in her head…what with Angel's mind reading…

…she was trying very hard not to blow anything up, for that matter.

After a while, all of the Flock started flicking their eyes around, seeing people pointing at them and hearing the whisperings…_Ah, holy crap monkeys on crack._

A hand wormed it's way across her waist, and she didn't even have to check to see who it was. Not that the sooty hand was _any_ clue whatsoever.

"Should we run?" Gazzy asked nervously, watching the crowd and mapping out exit routes.

Talon just stared at the big opening of the dome, waiting for God to drop a big neon sign above it saying "Exit this was, bird freaks!"

"Running's too slow," Max said.

"The game hasn't even started," Total said bitterly from under Iggy's seat. "I have money on the Bears!"

"You're welcome to stay here and see how the score ends up." Max stood and did her usual counting of heads and picking up backpacks. Total crawled out and jumped into Tally's hands upon seeing that Iggy's own hands were occupied.

Everyone climbed onto their chairs.

Tally looked on stoically as their faces were projected onto the screen. _Oh God, I need a shower…ick…so much _dirt_ and _soot_…but I can't complain about the soot since I blow about as much things up as Gazzy and Iggy do. _

"Up and away on three," Max said as more guards began coming for them.

"One," Max began. And everyone leapt into the air.

Well, Iggy more of threw Tally up with a grunt before following her.

It took her one heartbeat to regain her composure and level herself with Iggy to make sure her feathers brushed against his on every down stroke. 

"Move it!" Max bellowed.

_You don't have to tell me twice,_ Tally thought, pouring on the speed and feeling the slight sting of the air on her face and eyes, white-streaked hair whapping around behind her. _I swear, if I catch Iggy talking about those dang cheerleaders, I will personally bash his head in…_

Well, after flying around some, they picked to settle their camp at some cliff in the Texas Mountains.

And soon, Tally was leaning over her brother's shoulder, looking as he pulled up screens with all of their mugs plastered all over the place. _Do I really look like that? Maybe I should whack some of my hair off…it's getting annoyingly loud…Ew! What the flip was Gazzy doing their?! It looks like…!_

"Hmm," said Fang. "We're everywhere—TV news, papers, radio. Seems a lot of people got photos."

"There's a surprise," Max said. "I bet that explains those helicopters we were hearing."

"Are you okay, Max?" Nudge asked timidly.

"Sure, sweetie. I'm just…tired." Tally was positive she was not the only one who caught the forced-ness of her answer.

"I got a hundred and twenty-one thousand hits today," Fang informed her, looking up.

"Whaaat? Really?" _Um, Max? You might want to close you mouth before a bug flies in..._

"Yeah, people are organizing, actually trying to find info for us."

Iggy frowned. "What if they get caught by whitecoats?"

Tally shook her head and wandered over to her backpack, sifting through it aimlessly, pretending to do something productive.

"What are you writing about?" Max asked him. In all the time that they had spent at Anne's house (at least two millenniums ago, Tally estimated), she never once bothered to actually _read _his blog—sure, Max'd skimmed it and deemed him poetic, but she really just didn't pay attention to what he was actually _writing about._

But Tally had. She'd snuck into her brother's room, sometimes logged into his username and written up little quips about what Fang _didn't_ say.

"Us. Trying to get all the puzzle pieces out there, see if anyone can help us put the big picture together."

"That's a good idea, Fang," said sweet little Angel in her creepy-all-knowing-voice. "We need to make connections."

Then something happened to cause Max to jump, oh—a few feet in the air. (Not that it _wasn't_ possible what with their bird features and all.) She put a hand to her temple, as if she had a headache.

"You okay?" Iggy reached out and touched her jeans. _Probably felt her jump a mile in the air._

"Yeah," she muttered, steadily walking away from all of the Flock. _I don't blame her. We're looking at her as if she has sprouted an Eraser-y second head that's foaming at the mouth._

Tally's eyes flashed with worry as Max neared a canyon…

She scooted over to Nudge (since she was still a bit p.o.'d at Iggy for drooling a river at those girls in skimpy who—okay. Not appropriate…) and took the girl's hand in a comforting gesture. Eventually, Nudge started babbling a storm and Tally listened to every bit of it._ 'Cause God knows that Nudge can talk enough for both me and her and probably the whole universe if she puts her mind to it. _

A blonde person came striding back. _Max of course. _

"You okay?" Tally's brother asked in all his three-syllable glory. (Sarcasm there)

Max nodded, but seeming to realize that she was suppose to be mad with him turned and sat herself beside Tally.

"I just heard form the Voice," she said.

Tally turned her head to Max, cocking it to one side in curiosity.

"What did it say?" Nudge asked, eating a rolled-up piece of bologna.

Everyone turned to Max expectantly, Fang even stopped typing.

"It said we haven't been seeing Erasers because they're all dead," she said bluntly.

And if Tally had been eating anything, she would have been hacking it up. _The Erasers? Gone? That sounds about as impossible as Gazzy not letting go every once in a while. _

"What did it mean, they're all dead?" Nudge asked.

Max shook her head. "I don't know. If it's not pulling my leg, then I would guess it meant…that all the Erasers are taking dirt naps."

Tally wrapped her hands around her middle uncertainly, millions of questions coming into her head but no words able to come out from her mouth.

"Who killed them?" Fang asked. _At least this will answer _one_ of my questions. _

"The Voice said…all over the world, every branch of Itex and the Institute and the School—they were all terminating their recombinant-DNA experiments. And that we were almost the only ones left."

Then everyone fell silent. _As far as I know, I was the only successful recombinant in the Virginia Facility…or School, I guess…_

"Okay, if anyone asks, I can't talk, right?" Tally giggled mentally at Total's little quip.

Max rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that'll fool 'em."

"What are we gonna do now?" the Gasman asked. He looked very worried and went to sit by Max who reached up and fluffed his mohawk. Nudge grabbed Tally's hand

"We have a mission," she began. And Fang said "We need a home" almost at the same time.

"What?" Max asked, startled.

"We need to find a permanent home," Fang said seriously. "We can't last on the run much longer. I say screw the mission. Let them blow up the world. We can find a place to hide out where no one can find us, and we can just…_live._"

Tally felt the intense urge to pump her fist in the air and say "Power to the bird kids!" (If she could actually _speak_) but smothered it.

"We can't forget the mission," Maxx began, just as Angel said, "Yeah! We need a home!"

"A home!" said the Gasman, looking as if all of his bomb had gone off and exploded all of the world's whitecoats.

"A real home, better than our last one," Nudge agreed happily. "With no grown-ups, and no school or school uniforms." Tally perked up at the last two suggestions. _And no Anne Walker prancing around and giving out "motherly" orders. _

"A home with a yard and lots of grass," said Total. "No more of this pebbles-and-dirt crap."

_Ooh! And trees! And cable and open skies so that we can fly…and lots of cleaning thingies incase someone makes a mess while building bombs or something…I hate messes…_

"Iggy?" Max said, having sparred a glance at Tally only to see her eyes shining happily.

"Let's see," he said, holding his hands out as if they were a scale. "Hmm. On the one hand, we have constant, desperate, heart-pounding escapes, day after day, never knowing what's going to happen to us or whether we'll even be alive the next day…On the other hand, a home: hidden, safe, sleeping in the same bed every night, relaxing, not having to fight or our lives at a moment's notice…"

"Okay, okay," Max said. "You don't have to rub it in."

Everyone watched her expectantly, again.

She shrugged one shoulder after a few moments. "Whatever. A home, whatever."

And everyone cheered. Tally even forgot why she was mad at Ig.

-

Tally walked along side Iggy, looking at the sky and making sure he got the picture. As soon as Max and Fang were out of Iggy's hearing range she'd dragged him out and left Nudge in charge (since she was the one most likely to actually follow _orders_).

Iggy was completely out of the loop of course, and had no idea why Tally had dragged him out.

And now they were just walking (within running distance of their camp) along under the stars.

_I should have thought this out better…_Tally noted nervously. _How am I supposed to _ask_ him where we stand when I can't ask anyone _anything?

And then they were sitting down "looking" at the stars. "So, any reason for this late night stroll in the woods, Tally? Or did you just get an itch to do it?" Iggy asked her, grinning.

She tapped his hand twice for the first question then once for the second question. Yes, No.

"So, your reason is?" he asked, grabbing her hand in the process.

She scrunched her eyebrows together then tentatively poked Iggy's hand, the one on hers.

"Something about my hand?" he questioned hesitantly, confused.

She poked harder. "What about my hand, Tally?"

_Dang it! Times like this when I _hate_ not being able to talk!_ she thought. Talon poked him again.

"I'm not getting anything, Tally," he said with a sigh.

That was when she threw away any subtle way of trying to tell him (and the strange flip-flop her stomach did) and just got on her knees and pressed her lips against his, one hand helping her keep balance.

She could almost feel the surprise he felt, the soundless _Oh_, before he started responding.

And by responding…he _really responded. _Hungrily kissing her lips (bumping noses because of their …newness to the world of kissing and—romance.)

His lips moving against hers with increasing intensity his own free hand reaching up to wrap around her waist (both getting breathless before remembering to breathe through their noses)…then it dimmed down until they were just in each others arms.

Iggy tucked her head under his chin. "So that's what you wanted to 'talk' to me about?"

More of the boiling hot lava flooded to her cheeks and she bit her lip, nodding her head. _Pretty dang sure he can both _hear _and _feel_ my birdgirl heart putting on its football pads about to tackle _his.

"So this means…you're my girlfriend…?" he asked unsurely, rubbing between her wings.

Goosebumps rose on her neck and she shivered. Two taps.

"Well then, let me find some Romeo worthy tights and get you a poufy dress Juliet, and we can run off into the sunset…!" he said melodramatically, putting his hand in the air as if to part the air and find his tights and the dress, his eyes squinting like they were looking through a fog.

Tally shook her head, making the soundless giggling that sounded completely weird to her.

**A/N: Okay loves…I put some Tiggy in it. I know that there isn't a lot of Fax in it…but I'm trying to stay canon before I do one of my signature veer offs. I read MAX and have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to add some Fax…but I hope you guys like the Tiggy. **

**Responses:**

**ErikNightLover: Well, I'm not separating the stories, but I hope you liked this one!**

**Midge 1012: Glad you love the story! **

**hopekills16: ^-^ here's the update! I hope chu like it!**

**for the love of Iggy: I'll get to reading it when I can, kay? Maybe right now…Hope you liked this one!**

**Arisa Amane: Ooh, that's a **_**lot**_** of books to read….on the bright side! I finished sending **_Obvious Vexation Chapter 4_** to my editor and it should be out by the end of this week! Um, in reference to getting her voice back…ah, when K **_**doesn't**_** have the intense urge to claw Light's eyes out, or when Kitten decides to go goth.**

**Not as much reviews as usual but I guess it's school interfering…Anyways, REVIEW!**


	13. Chapter 12

Dark Blue

Chapter 12

Tally didn't bother letting go of Iggy's hand when they returned, in fact, she made a point of watching over there bomb making while the girls giggled about something while playing a little game with rocks.

"Hey, guys?" Iggy called. Talon spared him another glance, setting down small bottle of bleach that was in her hand. "How about a little test flight? A little wheedling around like the hawks showed us. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," said Angel.

Talon tapped Iggy's hand twice before pulling herself up, brushing off any dirt from her cargos and following in Nudge's steps (letting go of Iggy's hand) and standing at the edge of the puny canyon.

The black haired (with one stubborn streak of white) bird girl shook out her wings from the slits in the back of her sleeveless black shirt before throwing herself into the air, falling a few feet before rising powerfully through the blue, cloud speckled sky. Angel, Gazzy and Iggy followed one by one.

Feeling a bout of exhilaration, Tally stopped beating her wings and let herself fall through the air, angling out and turning upward before she went splat, loving how the wind felt on her and against her feathers. The awesome non-Eraser induced adrenaline…

She turned around and darted back to everyone, a big grin on her face.

_I thought too soon…_

Then of course, it was wiped off.

Her face morphed from the flying-stimulated bliss to one of cold determination. _The Erasers. _

"I knew it was too good to be true," Gazzy yelled. "The Erasers' all being dead!"

"I didn't _feel_ them coming," Angel said, confused. And Fang's sister felt the same confusion, _weren't these oafs supposed to be "taking dirt naps"? I don't _see_ them pushing up daisies. _

Tally's hands clenched together, pointing them in front of her, ready to blow everything in sight up, before something rammed right into her wings, nearly knocking her out of the sky. "_Haff," _was the only sound she emitted. Just air rushing through her mouth.

She whirled around in a spin kick, slamming it into it's strangely metal-y chest before opening her fist and effectively freezing the Eraser. And she didn't even have the time to watch it smash against the ground before she threw herself at more and more, exploding and freezing left and right, making sure they were all relatively far away from her and the flock before she forced their molecules to speed up and combust into an artistic array of metal slices, fur and clothing. _Metal? This is _beyond_ weird, this is _bizarre_…_

A weary glance to the left told her that she had strayed a good bit away from the main fight.

Good thing, too, because with a flash and _BOOM_ the bomb Iggy and Gazzy were working on exploded. Similar to her ability…but on a much _much_ bigger and thrilling scale—she just didn't get that type of rush when she used her power.

The Erasers fell away and Tally made a beeline to them, barely within range when she heard Iggy breathe, "Robots!"

Tally shook her head as robot and eraser-y bits plopped onto the canyon floor with little poofs of dust being the only thing that told her they had made an impact.

"Well, that was different," Iggy finally said.

"And so _gross!"_ Nudge said, brushing eraser bits off of her person.

Talon simply shook her head and headed back for the canyon. _First Aide first, then food, then…ah, watch. I'll take first watch tonight since I barely ever sleep. _

_Man, Max makes this look far too easy than it really is…_Tally thought, landing and already shuffling through her pack for the medical doo-dads. _Geez…I will never ever doubt Max, like, _ever_. _

And she patched everyone up, being sure to be gentle and all, but her face remained blank. Iggy made a point of attacking her with bandages, him brushing his fingers over the fresh wounds, bandaging them up with ease, anger flickering in his sightless eyes.

She felt the intense urge, the _need_ to say, "Everything's alright now," but couldn't. Instead, she opted to stroking his hair lightly as he bandaged up a burn she had on her forearm. The anger disappeared and something about him softened, "I know."

…Talon offered a grin, one he couldn't see and she couldn't show him unless a mirror was provided.

Other than that, she was on edge for the rest of the day, nearly melting into the shadows while keeping her eyes scanning everything, straining her bird kid eyes and ears to catch anything abnormal.

"I'm going to cook some food, okay Tally?" Nudge addressed her. Tally blinked once before nodding her head and watching her walk off to the fire.

She supposed she was the leader while both Max and her brother were gone, being the next oldest. _And I guess that I already automatically recognized that, barking out orders…except, you know, I can't _talk.

And then Tally tensed, looking up again when she felt something wrong.

Her eyes widened as buzzing hit her ears, and the sun just _blinked out_ like a dying firefly.

She jumped to her feet, her wings already snapping out, partially hiding the rest of the Flock, she just barely heard Angel say something about the Flock being dinner.

"Up and away?" Iggy asked, and Gazzy answered, "No! They're above us too! _Everywhere!_"

Tally clenched her hands and snapped them open at the robots, quickly regretting it when scalding hot shards of robot-thingies went flying everywhere and burned her forearms from her protecting her face.

_Okay, plan A to blow them to bits work out _so_ well,_ she drawled mentally. _Now, plan_ _B? Kick some tin cans to high heck, and hopefully fly the heck out of here with out feathers still intact. _

_Got it,_ Angel relayed her plan to the rest.

And that was when Tally chose to start sprinting.

And she did.

Right into a swarm of the robots.

She quickly slammed her fist into one's chin, snapping out her leg with the momentum and spin kicking. _Dang! _She winced._ Stupid metal 'bots!_

"Tally! Try blowing them up again!" Iggy's voice called from behind her.

She grimaced, feeling a metal foot slamming against her leg. _What the heck is it with any enemy and hitting me in the same exact spot!_

Then she twisted around. _And blowing them up would be a great idea. But my exploding power doesn't work like a bomb. There is no three seconds to get out of the way. It just goes boom and I'll be burnt to a crisp as well if I'm to close to what I want to go _BOOM!

_If only I could actually tell him that!_

She ducked and rolled out of the way of a robot's kick, tears springing to her eyes when she felt a snap from her arm and then something metal-y being pulled over her eyes, her hair being yanked back forcefully.

Sad thing was, she heard the flock protesting as they were brought down, she assumed taped was being put on their mouths when they all the swears were cut off. Tally just squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the 'bots' attempts at trying to tie her up.

She gritted her teeth and slammed her elbow into one's stomach area (she assumed), fully intent on getting free but felt a sting across her face, and something wet go down it.

_Dang, they cut me…just don't think about being blind Tally,_ she grunted as they threw her over their shoulders after putting what Nudge cried out were black hoods. _Couldn't they have put, like, seat cushions on these things?_

_Don't worry,_ Angel's mental voice. _Don't worry. Max and Fang will come back. They'll find us. They'll be really mad too. _

Tally felt herself spiraling out of consciousness. _Chloroform; killing doses for normal humans… simply… knock out …bird…kids…_

_Shi—_

And then she was out for the count. 

-

Tally awoke to her hog tied body slamming against the floor of a semi again…and again...and _again!_

She bit the inside of her cheek, curling herself up, noticing how her wings were bound to her back by something.

"Tally?" she heard a silent voice calling her name.

She bit her lip harder before opening her mouth and clicking her tongue twice. _Good thing there are _other_ ways to tell him that I am here other than speaking._

"_Oof,_" she heard Iggy huff, a foot probably colliding with his chest.

She winced at his pain. _Gosh, Iggy, don't speak if it means getting hurt. We're all beat up enough as is. _

She closed her blindfolded eyes, leaning her head against the semi's floor before rocketing back up from having it bang when they hit another pothole.

Talon gave a start when she felt to small hands enclose in hers._ Nudge and Gazzy…that's right, I have to be strong for them…_she thought drowsily, squeezing their hands comfortingly. _But…to be strong for _them_ I have to believe that Max and Fang will come get us without getting captured. Dang it! I wish I could just blow these things up, but I have my eyes covered! I won't know what to hit, or what to visualize!!!!_

She strained her ears, _Some temporary leader I am. Getting us a one way ticket to the School. Can anyone say, "Crappy leadership skills, much?" Max, I swear when you get back, I am going to convince you to not leave the mute and the blind bird kid to leadership duty. Somehow. But that would require us ever getting out of here._

"When we get out of this, every one of those robots is gonna have fang marks on 'em," muttered Total from somewhere on Tally's right. The flyboys must've left them because he didn't get kicked.

"We'll never get out of this one," said Iggy. "I have a really bad feeling."

_Here, here,_ Tally thought lamely. _But I can't show the kids that. They look up to us, the older kids, even if Iggy can't actually _see _that. _

"We'll get out," Nudge said.

Talon nodded, even if she wasn't completely sure of that. She honestly wanted to leave, but she had a sinking feeling in her stomach, like someone had dropped a couple of rocks in it.

Iggy didn't respond to Nudge.

"We have to find Angel," Gazzy whispered. "We can't let them do…all the stuff they did to her last time."

Tally was out of the loop there. She never liked to question anyone about their pasts since it was awkward and painful, so she opted to stay blissfully ignorant. But the mere thought of what _whitecoats_ could do to a little girl like Angel cause Tally to want to shudder.

"We need a plan," Nudge said under her breath. "Max and Fang would make a plan. Let's think."

"Why don't we ask Santa Claus?" Iggy was bitter, that was clear to Talon. "Or the Easter Bunny?"

Talon resisted the urge to nod in approval, so she instead resorted to leaning her head against the metal.

"I say we bite 'em," Total said. "They open the doors, we're on 'em, snarling and fangs and everything. Or I could rush there legs, trip 'em, and then you guys attack them."

"We don't have fangs," Gazzy explained, his voice sounded tired to her.

"No, but we have teeth," said Nudge. "We should have been chewing off the tape all this time! Come on! Total will chew mine, I'll try to get Gazzy's off, and Gazzy, you work on Iggy's, and Iggy on Tally's. Then we'll kick some Flyboy butt!"

_Won't work, _Talon thought glumly. _We're all beat up, tired, me and Iggy and Total are famished, not to mention that two of us are currently blind. Not to chuck a wrench in the fan, or anything. _

And, unfortunately, she was right. Because she heard the Flyboys tromping back into the semi seconds later.

She shook her head before rolling into a sitting position, giving a breathless gasp when her broken arm touched the floor. _I must've forgotten what broken bones feel like. _

_-_

When Nudge woke up, she saw Iggy and Gazzy lying on their sides. She blinked at the dark blotch looking at the doors. _FANG?!_

But then she shook her head and saw the hair was far too long and didn't have any sleeves. _No, Tally. She must be listening for anything. _Total was lying in her lap, her arm swollen to twice its normal size.

Then the truck shuddered to a halt, the screech of brakes hurting Nudge's ears. Iggy, Gazzy and Total groggily awoke.

"I hope this is a potty break," Total muttered.

"What's happening?" Iggy's whisper was barely audible, but a Flyboy still kicked him.

Tally, having heard his voice, scooted her self to be in between the door and the rest of the flock.

-

Tally sat in anticipation, tensing her body to be rammed around. _What's happening?! _She thought anxiously.

She heard Gazzy, Total and Nudge gasp before Gazzy said happily, "Angel!"

_Angel?_

"Angel?" Nudge was scared. That meant something was wrong.

"Time to die," Angel said.

Tally froze before letting the bored mask back on her face.

"Iggy?" _Max! Thank whatever god there is! _

"Max!" Iggy's voice sounded strangled.

"You guys okay—," Max began. "Angel! Are you okay? I'm gonna take these guys apa—"

"I _told_ you I should be the leader, Max," she said flatly. "Now it's your time to die. The last life forms from the labs are being exterminated, and you will be too. Right?"

-

**A/n: Just felt like updating. No review response, got to go work on project now!!!! Thanks to all who reviewed, both old reviewers and newcomers!**


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Dark Blue

_Pain…so much pain…._ Tally thought, shuddering. She went to open her eyes, but saw nothing.

_Blindfold,_ she noticed. _Shi—_she yanked at her arms, feeling a tug followed by a slight burning of her wrists. _Velcro. It feels like the smooth side of Velcro._ And then she tried her feet, with the same results.

Then she took a deep breath and froze. _Antiseptic smells, alcohol, sterile, holy mother of all that is holy!_ Then all hell broke loose.

She shook her head violently, began to thrash, all the while hyperventilating._ Please don't let it be the School! Not the Facility! Or anything synonymous! ……_

After ages of this, she finally noticed the flock calling her name. "Calm down, Talon!" "Tal!" "Tally!" "Tals!"

Her head snapped in the direction. _How the hell am I supposed to calm down when I'm right back where I started?! It wasn't tea and cupcakes getting the hell out by myself last time! I can't even test if they've neutralized my powers again or not!!!!_ She thought haughtily, giving another yank at her straps.

"Tally," Iggy's voice, patient and soothing if not exasperated. "You're not alone this time. It's going to be _easier_ to get out than when you did it by yourself." _Something tells me he's lying to himself. Is it the fact that he said he had a feeling that we weren't ever going to get out of this, earlier, in the semi?_

She stopped her thrashing and settled for going limp, scowling.

"What do you mean, Iggy?" Max asked.

A gruff sigh from him. "Am I allowed to tell them, Tally?" he asked her.

_Why shouldn't they know? They've probably had worse done to them. My escapade can't be that bad in their eyes. _She clicked her tongue twice.

"Last time, it took her a while to get out. She jolted awake when they were coming to her with scalpels. They managed to cover her eyes before she launched herself off the table," he edited. She had made sure to show him clear pictures of what she assumed happened to her. Pictures of examining tables, scalpels, Erasers…_blood._ "The whitecoats from her place were being idiots and chose the lab with giant windows on the ground floor. So she twisted out of the whitecoats grasps, and hurled some stuff at the window to open it.

"She ran through it, Erasers on her tail, winding in and out of the woods until she started flying and then…ended up in the same hospital as Fang," he finished with another sigh. He had dulled it down significantly. It was far more gruesome and longer than that.

Tally jerked her head to the side. _I hate this feeling of being blind….but I can't focus on that. I have to think…._

"I'm sorry, Tally," Max said, actually _sorry_.

Talon shrugged her shoulders as she twisted her foot this way and that to see if there were any gives in the Velcro. _Dang. Nothing. They've gotten smarter. _

"Tally?" Nudge called softly, hesitantly.

She clicked her tongue twice.

"That means _yes_," Iggy informed her.

"Are…are you alright?"

Tally cocked her head to the side, desperately trying to hold down her breathing to a normal level.

"I mean…you were stuck at the School in Virginia for fourteen years, right?" Two taps here. "Well, wouldn't it be more…more _scary_? You just got out, only to be captured again…"

_You have no idea,_ Tally thought, but she shrugged, blowing some hair out of her mouth. _You have no idea, Nudge. There barely was enough time for the injuries to heal…how long before I get thrown into another battle? Or will they pick up where they last left off and just dissect me once and for all…? _

-

Tally, thrashing around on her hospital bed, was completely and totally unnerving.

They had swapped her clothes for one. And given her the same doctor's jammies as when we first saw her, her black hair was fanning all over the place, and her ankles and wrists were rubbed raw from her tantrum.

The reason it was unnerving? I had gotten used to seeing her as stoic as Fang when she was around me. Or a bit smiley around Iggy.

Fact to the matter was, I had gotten so used to thinking she was a silent rock type like Fang, that it was strange to see her freaking out.

But didn't her brother and her have that in common?

Fang's worst fear was cages.

Tally's worst fears were being more impaired than she already was and being locked up in the _cage_ that was the School.

She had had a full blown out panic attack.

I shook my head, watching her breathe stiffly next to Total before her hands formed tight fists, her lips moving as if she was mumbling.

And from here, I got a clear view of the scar on her throat. When we were at the hospital, I thought it was a smooth, clean scar.

Now that I saw it, it was jagged with pink scar tissue crisscrossing over her throat.

I turned away from her and looked at Iggy. He was limp, with his eyes open and completely devoid of any emotion.

Nudge and Gazzy were completely depressed.

And Fang…

His hands were in tight fists as well, his black bangs nearly hiding his eyes from view as he raised his head to look at the Velcro straps on his wrists.

And then there was the fact that Fang and Talon were two completely different people. Fang was silent and strong but he had four years of freedom. Talon was forcibly silent and strong but she was silly and a bit more open.

Fang was calculating.

Talon was calculating but also random from what I've seen of the little note pads she used to carry around with her.

Fang was completely brave when inside the School.

Tally was freaked out and ready to saw her limbs off to get the heck away from the School.

But both of them put on the strong face when the younger flock members were involved.

I shook my head before resting it against the hospital bed. _Plan. I need a plan. _

-

Tally woke to something being shoved into her arm, a numb feeling seeping through her body. _No! Needle!_ She made to slam her elbows on the bed, whistle, click her tongue, anything to make some _noise!_ But she felt bit furry arms hold her still and haul her away.

_Lemme go! Dang it! Fang! Iggy! Max! Dang it! Someone! Mute girl being stolen! PLEASE?! _she cried out in her mind, eyes hot and prickling with tears.

"Put it in this cage, next to the dog's," cruel, cold voice. _Stupid sunava—_ she thought hysterically.

And then she felt her _injured_ side being slammed against chicken wire. Her feet were shoved into the cramped space before the door was slammed shut.

Tally reached out and felt the walls of her cage. _Chicken wire, large at best, dog crate, right?_

She pulled her legs close to her body, settling her forehead on her knees. _Damn._

"This is outrageous," she heard a feeble voice.

_Total!_

She whistled to get his attention. _Never thought I'd be so glad to hear Total's whiny voice._

"Who's there?!"

_How the heck am I supposed to answer that?!_ Tally opened her mouth, forcing air through it and trying her best to form sounds. _"Tally,_" she said. But it came out more of "Tah-eh."

"Tally?!"

Two tongue clicks of confirmation.

"Oh, wow, you look beat up. And inebriated…"

_Say what? Dumb it down a bit for me, will ya?_

She was silent.

"Uh…right. You can't talk…." Awkward much?

Tally groggily closed her eyes…one more moment of sleep won't matter…

…right?

-

"What about Total and Tally?" I demanded triumphantly. "Were they a dream too?"

Jeb looked at me gently. "There was no Total the talking dog. But Fang's sister is real. She was integrated into the dream process to see how you all reacted to her, but you never really met her. The real Talon Ghost is currently doing strength testing," he stepped aside so we could all see the two beds across from us. They were empty.

They'd never been there, had they?

-

Tally cried.

For the first time in years, tears went down her face as she was battered around.

They were finding her worth, giving her an appraisal.

She wasn't one to cry when in battle…but this was the type of battle she honestly couldn't win.

Four flyboy thingies against _her:_ currently blinded mutant, rendered powerless and rusty in fighting without her eyes.

So, they pelted her with hits and she barely got any in.

She couldn't fly out of it because of the fact that they were _indoors in a puny excuse for a room_, and she had her wings tight against her back because the moment she was thrown in, they went for her feathers. And she needed at least ten primaries to be able to fly. Contrary to popular belief, feathers on Avian-Americans did not grow all of that fast.

And the pain was excruciating. Did she mention that?

Sad part was that she was expecting the flock to come bursting through the doors and rescue her.

Earlier in the day, they put her in the maze, then the pool, the pressure tank, and then the battle room where she was currently bawling her eyes out.

Whoever wanted to make an appraisal of her was being really stingy.

_I—I can't handle this anymore!_ She thought, letting herself get knocked down onto the ground, metallic tasting blood pouring into her mouth.

"This experiment has had it! You do anything more to it, and you'll kill it!" she heard the booming voice over the intercom.

"You're right. Have Experiment Ghost transported back to its new cage. Send it to the fields in two days."

-

Under the general heading "Torturing the Bird Kids, Part Deux," you might find a whitecoat handing us a cardboard box that night.

We opened it carefully, expecting it to explode in our faces.

Inside, we found two slim wrapped packages. One was a picture frame, the other was a small mini-TV.

I handed the Mini-TV to Fang. _What the heck, it might have cable._

Fang examined the TV thingy cautiously before he pressed the ON button.

It blinked on, a picture flashing on the front with little quips of data scrolling across.

It was Tally. A recent picture at that…I think. Her eyes were covered with these weird glasses, and her eyes looked dead…she looked beat up and like she had given up.

But she looked like she did the last time I saw her for the most part. The white streak near the front, the black hair swooshing out of the frame, the doctor jammies…

I looked at the information, reading it outloud. "Experiment GH05T. Age: fourteen, height: five foot ten, weight: 98 pounds, Wingspan: 14 feet, Biological Twin Sibling: Experiment Seven," A small picture of Fang when he was still in the School next to it…

As soon as I finished reading that, the image blinked out before showing a moving picture of Tally.

She was fighting.

Fighting a bunch of Flyboys on her own.

She kicked one way, they come at her from a dozen other ways, she try and uppercut, and get knocked to the ground from a backhand and kick. Then she didn't move. She huffed soundlessly, blood dribbling down her chin before her eyes started glazing over…dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

"This experiment has had it! You do anything more to it, and you'll kill it!" A whitecoat, obviously. 

"You're right. Have Experiment Gh05t transported back to its new cage. Send it to the fields in two days."

Tally's eyes shut, no motivation in them, and she was roughly picked up, wounded in plenty of places.

The TV turned off.

I shuddered.

Who knows what else they had done to her.

But…was it a dream? Was that _our_ Tally, or some girl we'd never met?

-

_Lemme go…._Tally thought as her cage was thrown onto a little rolling cart. To say she was in pain was a major understatement. She was in agony and was fighting to keep her eyes open, if only for the sake of keeping them open.

She was dropped unceremoniously, and commanded to get out of her cage.

She, albeit weakly, managed to extend her middle finger, spitting some blood out of her mouth.

Well, that didn't end well. The Flyboys shook her out onto the ground and dragged her…someplace.

Then she heard voices, "Tal?"

"Tally?"

And the like.

Her eyes wrenched open, why? She didn't know. The stupid one-way mirror glasses were still latched onto her face.

But she knew the voices. First one was Fang, second was Max.

And then a hand brushed against her wrist. _Iggy, _she thought.

**A/N: Anyone like it? I tried to **_**start**_** my veer off. But, due to popular demand, I'll finish STWAOES with Tally in it. Anyone like? Now we have **_**proof**_** that Tally is Fang's brother and not some clone gone wrong, that she is **_**extremely tall**_** (two inches taller than Max and I), that she has a big wingspan and yeah….reviews would be favorable, please. **

**The average reviews for this story is a little over six reviews. So, please?**

**Person to get the hundredth review gets a treat. Not a stingy virtual cupcake, but I might do anything from drawing them something to writing them a one-shot to letting them have a "Any question goes" for any one of my stories, including this one (if they want to know who dies, I'll answer, if they want to know what my veer off will be, I'll tell them. Five questions—make them count my unknown hundredth reviewer.).**

**-Maddy**


	15. Chapter 14

**Recap:**

Lemme go_….__Tally thought as her cage was thrown onto a little rolling cart. To say she was in pain was a major understatement. She was in agony and was fighting to keep her eyes open, if only for the sake of keeping them open._

_She was dropped unceremoniously, and commanded to get out of her cage._

_She, albeit weakly, managed to extend her middle finger, spitting some blood out of her mouth._

_Well, that didn't end well. The Flyboys shook her out onto the ground and dragged her…someplace._

_Then she heard voices, "Tal?"_

"_Tally?"_

_And the like._

_Her eyes wrenched open, why? She didn't know. The stupid one-way mirror glasses were still latched onto her face._

_But she knew the voices. First one was Fang, second was Max._

_And then a hand brushed against her wrist. _Iggy_, __she thought._

**Dark Blue**

**Chapter 14**

Tally barely got to open her eyes before she heard the magical words. _"_Wake that thing, experiment GH05T up."

Her eyes snapped open right there, even if she had a blind fold on, and her fists clenched. As soon as she felt someone brush up against her foot (the Flock pulling at her to get her away) she kicked up, wings pulling tight against her back. _Lemme go you no good sons of—_

"Yow!" yelled out the decidedly female scientist. "Stupid little thing…" she mumbled under her breath.

But Tally wasn't paying much attention to her. She was trying to focus on ignoring the pain in her shin. _What the heck?! Does this chick wear shin guards or something? _

She felt another set of hands pulling her against metal. Someone from the flock again, most likely—since the whitecoats would never be so careful with her, unless they were making sure they didn't get blown to bits.

"Leave it be," Male whitecoat.

_And who the hell is that?_ She wondered, feeling a pair of hands ruffle through her hair, searching.

_Not Iggy, too big for Max and the younger kids. Fang?_

A soft click told her that that the insufferable clasp to her one-way mirror glasses was undone.

"Can you blast us out of here?" Fang breathed.

She shook her head fractionally. _ I'll end up blowing you guys too._ She made sure to angle her head so that she didn't end up with the one-way mirror glasses falling off. If they did fall off, then she wouldn't be able to do much of _anything_ because she'd be detained and probably thrown to the flyboys.

_Add to that, I don't know what they have been pumping through my IV. Could have been that stupid neutralizer or a paralyzing poison, who knows? Maybe maple syrup?_

Tally didn't catch the conversation happening on the other side of the cage. All she heard was a very loud, high pitched exclamation from someone and a…

_Shhhplat!_

_What the heck?!_

"Angel!" Nudge screamed, echoed by Gazzy. Then dull thuds reached Talon's ears. What the heck was happening?

"I can't break it!" Fang said, slamming his fists against the cage.

Talon ripped the glasses off of her face, shutting them almost immediately when the burning light almost seared her retinas.

"But I can!" gravelly, coarse voice…speaking around something.

_Eraser!_ Tally thought weakly, getting tunnel vision for the second time in one ten minute time frame.

"Get back!" Max shouted, Tally scrambled backward quickly, pain erupting through her body before she heard a loud crash and crunch sound. Which was closely followed by snarls.

Blinking to settle her vision, she quickly set to forcing her body to get up. She gritted her teeth, digging her nails into the dirt.

"She's going to let Ari eat us!" Nudge cried. "But it won't be easy for him!"

Tally whirled around, hands poised to freeze _everything_.

But then she froze as she heard Max's voice. "Angel's not a traitor," she said. "She and I agreed that she would do this so she'd be on the inside and could get us out if anything happened. She's been my _spy._"

_SAY WHAT?!_

"We came up with this plan in case the worst happened," she said fast. "Which it did, of course. Angel's not a traitor—never was."

Tally was torn between gaping and pulling herself up correctly. She chose to get herself steady and standing.

Then someone had to knock into her and send her tumbling to the ground.

_That's it, god damn it!_ Her gray eyes flashed with annoyance. _I've been trying to get up for the last half hour here and you have the nerve to _tackle me?!Talon raised both her hands in the air, clenched than flicked her wrist. And the white coat stood frozen before her, eyes looking at her nervously. _Lucky I didn't blow your freaking head off!_

Black started closing in on her eyes again. _Dang it! No! Not again! For the love of everything that is pure and not Eraser or Whitecoat or evil!_

"Max! Forget Ari! He's on our side! He's with me! Ari! _Release the secret weapon!_"

_Tally, can you fly?_ Angel's voice. At least, metaphorically speaking.

As if on cue, Talon's legs gave out from under her. _No…I can't even stand._

…_I'll tell Max for you._

"Iggy! Get Tally! Four steps, and—"

"I can hear her, Max," he interrupted letting Max push him out. And Max gave him a quick glance, one that said, "How in the name of chocolate-chip cookies did you hear her?! She's as silent as Fang!"

Strong hands pulled her up and into the air and she snapped her wings against her back for good measure. But then everything just went _black. _And she was left wondering around in her sleepy wonderland.

Then next time she opened her eyes…well, whatever was happening, she wanted no part with.

Fang and Max were standing across from each other, with fire in their eyes and…

_What the hell is the Eraser doing with us?_ Tally thought darkly, aiming dagger glances its way.

Iggy was with Fang on one side and Nudge was on the other with Max.

_What's going on?_ Talon pushed herself up. Ever thankful for her zippy mutant healing abilities; she had plum and banana pudding-like bruises, sure, but the undeniable pain was gone. How long had she been asleep, anyways?

_Max wants to go with Ari, the Eraser, while Fang wants nothing to do with Ari, so we're splitting the flock up,_ Angel informed her quickly, giving her a short glance before looking at Gazzy again.

Talon's face remained blank. _Max has gone bonkers. Erasers? Aren't they the _reason_ we carry around first aide kits? Sorta weird, don't you think, Max? Ready to be inflicted pain while on the go, or something? I really am doubting you now. _

Gazzy went to Fang's side and Angel and Total and Ari went to Max's.

"How about you, Tally?" Angel asked.

Everyone turned to her.

And it was certainly uncomfortable. _Just woke up and they expect me to choose between Max, who let me into the flock, who has an Eraser on her side; and Fang who is my brother and Iggy who is my boyfriend and Gazzy who I adore…wait. Why am I debating this? It's simple. Get the heck away from the Eraser. _

She lifted her hand in Fang's direction, a clear sign for "Help me up" and "I'm with you."

He nodded and pulled her onto her feet, giving her wings a once over before turning to Max and slinging on his backpack. "Fine."

"Fine," said Max, tilting her chin up.

Tally shook out her wings, taking her pack from Iggy. Only then did she notice all the bandages on her person.

And with that, the boys and Tally took a running start (wobbly, on her end, like a newborn foal) and jumped into the air. They circled around the cabin a few thousand feet in the air before heading west.

Everything was quiet. Strangely so.

_Of course it's gonna be quiet. Nudge isn't here to "talk" with me, Angel is here to talk with Total and Max, Max isn't here to hand out orders. Everything just seems so _strange.

But what could Talon really expect? All the girls had gone off being flower-power with the Eraser while her brother, probably being _sane_ picked the safer route. She'd take the safe route any day. Less violence, mayhem and tears.

The chances of her getting chomped on were less if she was with the boys.

Tally shook her head and caught up to wear her brother was flying. Iggy was keeping pace with the Gasman.

"Fang?" the Gasman's voice was subdued.

Tally frowned internally, torn between sticking next to Fang as second-in-command or flitting over to the eight year old to comfort him. But all of them were basically inconsolable right then, flying without the rest of the flock. (But she could do without the little mangy mongrel that Max had decided to add…)

Fang looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Where are we going?"

"West coast," Fang said.

She didn't know whether it was the mythical twin telepathy thing kicking in, or just her knowing how Fang acted by now, but she could've sworn he forgot to say "The opposite of where Max is going."

"What's there?" Iggy asked.

Talon gave her brother a patient look. "The biggest information dissemination system in the world," Fang said. Tally nodded, pretending to know what "dissemination" meant. "A place to get out news fast."

Oh, well that answered Tally's unspoken question.

The Gasman frowned. "What, like, some computer place? Some kind of tower?"

Fang shook his head. "_People_ magazine."

Tally's eyebrows went up, _has he lost him mind? What did the whitecoats do to them while I was being tortured? Did the funny-farm type environment finally make him go cuckoo for coco puffs?_

"Is this part of the 'lie low and be inconspicuous' plan?" Iggy asked pointedly. Someone else who could practically read her mind without actually reading it in the strange way Angel could.

"No," Fang said, angling his wing tips just a hair to lead them into a twenty-three-degree turn. "This is part of the 'blow the story open, post the blog, tell the world' plan."

"Oh."

Talon shook her head. That was Fang speak for "Let's pretend that's my plan, just like Max usually pretends to have a plan when she really is just winging it."

-

Talon looked around at all the sights, giving Iggy a brief peck on the lips before wandering off with Gazzy to a street vendor. She rung up Anne's card with a smile then turned on her heel and bought some nonperishable food.

Leaving her boyfriend off to himself, forgetting to send him a picture of what everything looked like.

She turned to Gazzy, sparing him a smile and handing him a hot dog and motioning to Iggy and Fang as best she could while balancing her open backpack and the bag of supplies.

"Okay, Tally," he said, walking off. She kept an eagle eye on him, giving the area a three-sixty scan before buying a pair of scissors. Why they were selling scissors at a beach, she didn't know. And she didn't _want_ to know.

Her head snapped towards the other bird kids in the immediate vicinity when she heard Iggy groan particularly loud. _Is something wrong with him? Is he hurt? _

Her raptor vision zoned in on them, scanning them up and down even if she was a good few meters away, _nothing _seems_ wrong…whatever. Must've had an Eraser—ahem—flyboy pinch him. _

She eyed her hair, extremely long and beginning to get on her nerves. She gritted her teeth, grabbing the end of her pony tail and chopping off a fair amount. Now her hair only hanged down to the middle of her back when in a pony tail. _Good enough. I don't want to end up looking like Fang._

_But what to do with _this_…? _She thought, holding the chunk of hair far away from her. She glanced to her right and tossed it in a garbage, seeing a few girls a little ways off making gagging faces at her.

She stowed the scissors (_Might be good for one of Iggy and Gazzy's bombs later on…)_ and walked up to the boys.

"Um, there's a girl meeting her friend," she heard Fang say. "Her friend is giving her an ice-cream cone. Oh—it's dripping. Huh. It, uh, dripped on her…chest."

And Tally sure as heck heard Iggy's hissing breath.

"It's gonna stain for sure," the Gasman said. "That's chocolate."

_Sexist pigs. And they have to drag the Gasman into this_, Talon thought, seething on the inside. She bit the inside of her cheek.

"What's that sound?" the Gasman asked.

_Sound, what sound—wait! What the—?!_

Tally marched straight up to all the boys, eyes bleak and halfway panicked. She roughly mimed robots and flyboys in the span of two seconds.

Fang's eyes widened comically as he heard the sounds as well, Tally assumed. "Up and away!" he said. "It's the flyboys. _They've found us!_"

**-**

**You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!**

**Today's date: **Already too late!

**You are visitor number: **974,654,008

**Tally Catching the Pigs in Action**

Hm. Yeah, I've managed to get the laptop away from Fang again, while Iggy was on watch and brother-dearest was out like a rock. Did my darling brother tell you what happened before flyboy popcorn destroyed the Hollywood sign?

He was being a—in Max lingo—"sexist pig."

When he says (in **Busted-up Hollywood**) Gazzy, him and Iggy were minding their own business while I was off somewhere doing girly things, he means he was ogling at some girls in bathing suits while I was dutifully getting supplies for our _survival_ (last time I checked, getting food was far from painting nails and prancing around in poufy things). Honestly, they have no sense of shame. And both Iggy and Fang threw little Gazzy into it too!

Whatever, I already whacked them side the head for it. And had to feed Gazzy some long, far-fetched lie about aliens eating their brains for a moment and making them ogle at the _ice-cream_ and not the half naked girl…(exaggerating, of course).

Anyways, I blew up some flyboys up after the bottom of my combat boots brushed up against the Hollywood sign, and yeah…

Stay away from furry robots, people in whitecoats, and just in case you're a girl reading this, stay away from teenage male mutants because they are perverts. I say it as a female mutant, as a sister to one, and as the ticked off girlfriend of another.

—Talon Ghost, somewhere strangling Fang


	16. Chapter 15

**Recap: **

_**You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!**_

_**Today's date: **__Already too late!_

_**You are visitor number: **__974,654,008_

_**Tally Catching the Pigs in Action**_

_Hm. Yeah, I've managed to get the laptop away from Fang again, while Iggy was on watch and brother-dearest was out like a rock. Did my darling brother tell you what happened before flyboy popcorn destroyed the Hollywood sign?_

_He was being a—in Max lingo—"sexist pig."_

_When he says (in __**Busted-up Hollywood**__) Gazzy, him and Iggy were minding their own business while I was off somewhere doing girly things, he means he was ogling at some girls in bathing suits while I was dutifully getting supplies for our __survival__ (last time I checked, getting food was far from painting nails and prancing around in poufy things). Honestly, they have no sense of shame. And both Iggy and Fang threw little Gazzy into it too!_

_Whatever, I already whacked them side the head for it. And had to feed Gazzy some long, far-fetched lie about aliens eating their brains for a moment and making them ogle at the __ice-cream__ and not the half naked girl…(exaggerating, of course)._

_Anyways, I blew up some flyboys up after the bottom of my combat boots brushed up against the Hollywood sign, and yeah…_

_Stay away from furry robots, people in whitecoats, and just in case you're a girl reading this, stay away from teenage male mutants because they are perverts. I say it as a female mutant, as a sister to one, and as the ticked off girlfriend of another._

—_Talon Ghost, somewhere strangling Fang_

**Post a Comment on Fang's Blog**

**Tally Catching the Pigs in Action**

107 comments

**Yukie56 said…**

Poor Gazzy, you have every right to beat up Fang for being such an idiot!

**Joshua Rivers said…**

O cmon, every1 does that once in a while. Its life Tally. Get over it.

**DeathsFlight said…**

To be honest, Iggy's only a (part) human guy. It comes with the package (not meant to be perverted, I swear!!!!) and even my own guy friends slip up every once in a while and peek in the girls' locker room. I just give them an ear full and douse them with ice cubes afterwards. Best of luck!

**AnimeLuvr12 said…**

Wow. Just wow. Out of curiosity, what was the real lie?

**Chapter**

**Dark Blue**

Tally doodled in the dirt, waiting for Fang and Gazzy to get back. Apparently she had overslept again. Another nightmare, but this time she couldn't remember what it was about.

At least the boys didn't ask her what it was about (which would have been difficult to explain given her condition)…

Anyways, she woke up, curled up to Iggy (to which he grinned and she poked him hard, still slightly miffed at him for "looking" at other girls.) and still sleepy.

Which was odd, because she was the one who normally stayed up until dawn and then nodded off in the middle of the day. Even if she had to take watch.

"Are you still ticked at me?" Iggy asked, his head pointing in her direction, landing on her forehead.

She sighed before tapping his hand twice, blinking when he laced their fingers together.

"Good….It's weird having you mad at me," he said softly, then with a grin. "Like being left alone in a crowded room."

Talon's head perked up. _That would suck. He can't gather his bearings properly when he's in crowded places. _

She brushed her hand against his cheek, feather light. "I _know_ you're here," he said, closing his eyes.

And she went ramrod straight. _How do you know what I want to say? Can—can you read minds, Iggy?_

Iggy must've felt her go stiff. "What's wrong, Tally?"

She loosened up, _Maybe I'm just imagining things. _

_But Max saw him do it as well, along with when he could hear me _breathing_ through the mayhem at Itex…how is this possible? _

Iggy's strawberry-blonde brows furrowed together, he put his other hand up to Tally's and shook it. "Tally? Are you alright?"

_Huh? _She tapped his hand twice. _Perfectly fine. But how the hell do you manage to almost read my thoughts? Are you that used to my haywire emotions?_

The ruffling sounds of wings alerted her to the fact that Fang and Gazzy were back.

"Tally! Iggy! We brought breakfast!" Gazzy called, landing a bit clumsily before darting over to the older bird kids.

"As if we couldn't tell with all the racket you were making, Gasser," Iggy retorted, pulling both himself and Tally up to their feet.

Tally cocked her head, looking at her twin. _What didja bring?_

And he understood her perfectly with the sibling understanding that they had. "Egg McMuffins, some bread and juice boxes."

-

See, Talon wasn't all too keen on gangburgers—whatever they were called. They were big, burly and reminded her of old fashioned Erasers, which she loathed with all her being.

So staying in the hideout of a bunch of gang—forget it—was completely horrible in her opinion.

Not only did they get the privilege of sleeping there, but hey! Fang decided to make a Maxish decision and told Tally to stay behind while they went into _People _magazine. She was _this_ close to making the words "Sexist Pig" flash before his vision.

But no, she played the better twin, the good sport and the darn right sour bird kid and waited on the street in front of the building, glowering while Keez, the gang-whatever, ate a cheeseburger all by himself, mentioning something about salads and girls liking them.

_I am surrounded by oompa-loompas who happen to be sexist pigs!!!_

But she kept a murderously emotionless mask on her face when they came back, holding down the urge to do a "In your face!!!!" victory dance.

They got some hotdogs, (she down like, three, courtesy of Anne of course) and typical them, they got ambushed.

_Not a moment's peace, gosh darn it! Don't robots need some time to kick back at the beach and _not_ ruin bird kid lives?!?!_

She didn't think twice before impulsively snapping out her wings and taking a running start into the air, blowing the head off of the first flyboy she encountered. ("That's one dangerous chick, right there…")

She twisted around in mid air and started freezing and exploding left and right, keeping a keen eye out for any of her Flock members or the Ghosts and people below (which was an added pain in her butt).

Her heart sped up with every turn and barrel roll she did, her hair whipping around her face like a raven tornado…_Look at me, "raven tornado"? I'm turning into Fang…_

She felt something cold and metal nick her arm before she turned around, and once she saw it was another little barrage of fly boys, then proceeded with making them freeze in mid air, falling to the ground in the most anticlimactic way.

Inaudible curses and shrieks left her mouth when she felt a metal foot slam into her stomach just as she turned around again and her wings clamped against her back, causing her to fall a few feet, before swooping back up with a vengeance and above the flyboy, near a cloud, where she blew it to bits. _Stupid metal robot thingy-majogger should rot in heck with all the disgusting white coats and sexist oompa-loompas_.

She gave the scene one final scan before flying down a bit lower, hovering above the Ghosts as the boys told them something. _Maybe these gangburgers aren't as bad as I thought. _

And as fate had it, Tally ended up falling asleep…for along time. After she read a certain journal she had stolen from Itex.

-

_**A/N: I am turning in the book tomorrow to get my eighth grade year book. But this is where my twist comes in. I have most of the parts that are going to be flashbacks memorized so, you guys should be fine. Anyways, who liked this? I apologize for the shortness!! But it has a purpose…and it sounds rushed TT-TT. REVIEW!**_


	17. Chapter 16

Dark Blue

Chapter 16

You know what's scary?

Waiting.

Don't look at me that way! It is! It's nerve racking, horrible and a bunch of other stuff!

Especially when you are waiting for a member of your flock to wake up!

See, when we reunited with Fang's mini-flock, they were all freaked. Because Tally wouldn't get up. Or open her eyes, or anything.

First thing I did after I hugged Fang to death and he told me about her? I sprinted to her, propped her up and checked her neck for an expiration date.

Nada.

I placed my hand on her forehead, cheeks and throat to check her temperature.

Nothing.

I gave her a mini physical, applying all the first aide things I learned at Bird Kid University over the years.

Nein.

Told Angel to read her mind while I started to panic a bit on the inside.

Zilch. (Something about it being like she was having one of her nightmares again…minus the thrashing she usually does.)

So, I ordered Iggy and Fang to grab an arm and well….we flew very awkwardly to my…mom's house.

When we landed, we had a mushy gushy reunion and well, then I directed my mother to Tally, who was limp between her brother and (from what Angel told me) her boyfriend.

Mom got to working on her real quick. She took her to an empty guest bedroom and started checking her vitals and everything…

I just hope Tally pulled through. From what I had come to learn of her—she was tough. And I couldn't bare to lose one of my flock.

-

_She looked out around her dog cage with a dead look in her eyes._

_Four year old experiment Talon. _

_She had tried to greet the experiment that had been placed next to her, a soft, low pitch "Who are you?" emitted through cracked lips. _

_To her horror, it hissed at her and tried to reach its gnarled claws at her through the chicken wire. _

_So she had backed up in her cage, no matter how uncomfortable it was for her wings._

_But now, she felt relatively safe. The thing in the cage next to hers had fallen, from what she could tell with her night vision, and started writhing on the floor of its cage, twitching and thrashing…foaming at the mouth. Until it just stopped breathing. _

_She didn't know what type of a mutant it was, only that it had claws, its knuckles were all twisted and had the most fiendish looking eyes and dagger like teeth. The slimy but coarse looking skin with spikes sticking out of its spine gave her no inspiration to greet it either. _

_Talon didn't feel any remorse nor had any sense of mourning when it died. She was actually relieved that it would bother her again. _

_Even at four, the majority of the experiments at The Facility learned that some experiments were better off dead and that making alliances wasn't part of the program. It was an experiment eat experiment world. And sometimes that was oh-too true. _

_But now, she just waited for the next "test" to happen. _

_Would they put her with the shark hybrids in the pools again and pull her out right before she drowned? Maybe pit her against the Tasmanian Devil hybrids. _

_Would they put poison in her veins and watch her writhe, or maybe just let her die? _

_She shut her eyes and covered them with her arms as best she could when the door to the experiment holding room opened, letting the blinding light burn her corneas. _

"_Grab it," said a whitecoat. "And take it to surgery room 15. We'll attempt the Avian Translation Surgery…" he muttered the last part more to himself than the prototype Eraser. _

_It grunted in affirmation before grabbing her cage roughly, "Stupid mongrel…!" Talon muttered foully, wanting to reach out with her own sharp nails and rip the wolf hybrids face clean off. _

_Another thing about the facility, you learned to be tough. You learned never to let them see you were scared out of your wits, that you were _this_ close to peeing yourself from fright. Would you survive?_

_She winced when she fell on her wing the wrong way, a soft _crunch_ only audible to her ears. Tears welled up in her dark eyes, but she held them in. _

_She had absolutely no idea what "Avian Translation Surgery" would be, all she knew was that it had something to do with her throat, judging by the little lines they were putting on her neck with magic-marker. _

_Huh. That was funny, when had they sedated her and put in those needles into her arms? _

_She fought off the heaviness in her eyelids, desperate to know what they were going to do to her. _

_Her ears strained, "Do _not_ screw up. The chances of it regaining its voice or surviving this if you mess up are slim to none, Kravtsov." _

"_I know," said the woman, selecting a scalpel. _

_Talon barely had time to whimper, the last sounds she would ever emit with her voice, before she felt the awkward tug of skin. _

_And she knew something went wrong, judging by the way they started freaking out a small amount of time into the surgery and how when she woke up again in her cage, no sound came out of her mouth. _

_Those tears that she had been holding back now trickled down her cheeks as she curled up, silent sobs._

**-**

Angel flinched while looking at Talon.

"What's wrong, Ange?" Fang asked, Iggy's head perked up.

"She's having a nightmare about that time…when they took her voice away. Something about a Kravtsov person and Avian Translation Surgery…" she said quietly, squeezing the hands of both boys.

"She needs to wake up from this shock induced coma soon…"

-

_All avian-hybrids react differently to the expiration serum. But the human Avian-Hybrids tend to have reoccurring symptoms. _

_They loose the abilities they might've gained through self-mutation._

_Then they begin to loose all of their enhanced senses till they are dimmed down to normal homo-sapien's levels. _

_Their wings shall disappear, cause of this is still unknown._

_And then they don't wake up. _

_-Kravtsov_

-

"_You don't deserve them anyways…" A far-off, hollow and haunting voice murmured._

Please no!_ Tally thought frantically, sprawled on the black abyss of a "floor," barely able to push herself up. _I need them!

"_You don't. A sin like you doesn't need anything..." Its tone turned more anger ridden. "Especially not those wings…trying to imitate God's warriors"_

_Tally could literally scream out in frustration, knowing that her back was bare, her soot colored feathers absent…all that was their was ragged scarred skin. _At least give me back my friends—no, my family!

"_A creature like you does not need friends. A creature such as yourself only needs solitude to haunt your every waking moment."_

No—!

-

_Wings! My wings!_ She thought distressed, shifting her shoulders to make sure they were still there.

A sigh of relief left her parched mouth when she felt them shift behind her, a few feathers tickling her back, the powerful muscles that connected her avian limbs giving the slightest of twitches.

"Tally! You're awake!" Angel.

"Tal?" Fang.

"Tally," said in a type sigh of relief. Iggy.

Shakily, Tally rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms, blinking away her drowsiness. _Hmmm? What is it Ange?_

Then her eyes snapped open in realization. _ANGEL!_ She eagerly hugged the little blonde, happy to see her.

Typically, Angel giggled angelically, wrapping her small hands around the older girl.

When they had finished hugging and pulled apart, Tally noticed the fact that Iggy and Fang were looking at her weird (well, Iggy just had his face screwed up in a weird way, pointed more-or-less in her direction).

_Why are they looking at me like that? _She finally took notice of the room. _Wait! Why are we indoors? Am I on _bed?! _Alright, who snuck some drugs into my breakfast?_

_No one did,_ Angel thought to her lightly. _You were asleep for a few days, is all. Dr. Martinez, Max's mom, called it a coma. _

_A FEW DAYS? Coma? But why are they are looking at me weird why? _

_Cause they're worried about you, silly. _

Tally blinked as the little girl flashed her sweet smile and bounded out of the room.

The dark haired girl took a glance at the boys and gave a small wave, _Er, hi?_

Otherwise undetectable to anyone but Max and Talon, the worry slipped out of Fang's eyes and he gave her a nod (was that the slightest hints of a smile on the corners of his lips?) and left the room.

Then her eyes turned to the strawberry-blonde blind bird kid who got up from his seat and marched over to her. She looked up at him innocently, half expecting him to say something witty and sarcastic at her, like "Sleeping beauty up, the world's a better place," with a roll of his eyes.

But instead, he sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around her (being careful of her wings) in a blindingly quick movement.

She blinked a few times, listening to what he was saying, "Don't do that again."

_Um…care to fill in the bird girl in you arms here? _She leaned her cheek against his shoulder, feeling one of his hands on the back of her head.

"I mean go into a coma…" he muttered after a few seconds. "Do you know how worried you made m—all of us? And how much you missed?"

_Uh, no, but I'll make sure not to suddenly keel over if it makes you this somber. Geez, Iggy and somber in the same sentence is completely and totally weird. I mean really._

They stayed like that for a few seconds before she pulled back and gave him a small peck on the lips, not being one for a big gushy, romance-novel worthy reunion.

He got her meaning exactly and fell back into his more immature side, "Now, let's go tell the rest of the flock that sleeping beauty isn't dead."

Tally rolled her eyes and let him pull her out of the bed, _I knew it was coming. _

When they entered the kitchen, she was met by a very loud Nudge. "TALLY! OMIGAWD! I was about to go stomp up there when you didn't come back down with Angel an hour ago! Are you alright?! Why did you go into a coma?! Do people dream while they're in a coma?! But then it'd be like you were—" Someone thankfully slapped a hand over her mouth.

_Thanks, Gazzy,_ Tally thought.

"You aren't supposed to dream when you're in a coma. But I suppose it might be different for you guys…" A woman with brunette hair and brown eyes said, next to a mini-version of herself.

"Oh," Max said, appearing at Tally's side. "Tally, meet Dr. Martinez, my mom, and my sister Ella. Mom, Ella, meet Tally."

Talon was surprised but hid it as the older woman came up to her, holding her hand out with a friendly smile on her face. "Nice to meet you, Tally."

Said bird girl suppressed the instinct to shrink away from anyone titled "Doctor" and took the woman's hand hesitantly. But was completely startled when the girl, Ella, hugged her.

Tally shrunk away from her, trying discreetly to melt into the shadows the way her brother did, half-forgetting the hand that was enclosed around hers.

_I'll have to talk to her later about what could have possibly made her fall into that condition…And probably tell Iggy to fill her in on what's happened…_

**Author's Thanks:**

**For alerts: **

**Arisa Amane, ****AugustClaire****, ****bambi-maximumride-twilight****, ****Chibi Fox-chan****, ****CrouchingCrookshanks****, ****dirtgrubber****, ****everyoneisMISunderstood****, ****EveryoneneedSomeone****, ****Fang Nico Percy ErikNight Luvr****, ****flying high 12****, ****Flying-Squirrelz****, ****for the love of Iggy****, ****Forgotten in Darkness****, ****hopekills16****, ****ironyheartsap****, ****JainaShadow****, ****joemarnc****, ****Lady Kitsune no Kyuubi****, ****Lilyflower-314****, ****Max-1996****, ****MaXiMuMrIDEisThEbeSTBoOkeVeR****, ****Razamataz****, ****Ruko777****, ****sayregirl****, ****Shnitzel****, ****starshotter5793****, ****Sun-Drop-Candy****, ****The Gray Rook****, ****TwiRidePotterGirl****, ****VampiresandHorses4ev3r****, ****Violet DeMarco****, ****Why So Sirius**

**Author Notes: It's a bit…darker than what I am sure all of you are used to from this story. I blame that dream I had…Tally and Iggy were in my backyard (o.O) and she turned around, and took a running start when she turns back around and hugs Iggy crying about her wings being gone…Then I woke up. And wrote it all down before I forgot. And now you guys are seeing the result of my twisted dream. Anyways, tell me if you want more Tiggy, fluff, drama, or humor. In a review, of course. ^-^**


	18. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: TT~TT Do you know how much I got scolded for updating late? –sniff sniff- Oh well, I have a headache, but I'm still going to update this one—and quicker than last time too! –listens to Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin on loop-**

**BTW, the summary for the next novel is out. And since I'm nice like that, I'll post it here. **

**Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel (**_**Previously names "The Sky Is Falling")**_

Being a kid with wings—constantly on the run—has never been easy, and Max and her flock are getting tenser than ever. First, on a trip to Africa (to pass out food to its starving residents), they meet a mysterious billionaire whose intense scrutiny of the Flock makes her fear the worst. Then, a cryptic message from a young girl arrives, warning them "The sky will fall." And as if an impending and apocalypse weren't bad enough, creepy bird kid Angel makes a dire prophecy about Max's love interest: Fang will be the first to die. Max's obsessive desire to protect Fang brings the two closer than ever. Can the flock weather the storm, or will the turmoil rip them apart for the last time?

**Warning! Fluff, Tiggy and squint your eyes for the hints of FAX/MANG!**

Chapter 17

Tally walked around the small town, pulling Iggy along.

When Dr. Martinez suggested going out to town with all of the Flock and Ella, Iggy had asked if they could go out on their own (squirming a bit and not knowing whether to direct the question at Max or Dr. Martinez, or heck! He was half-asking Tally too). They agreed, of course.

And Nudge eagerly dressed Iggy up again, while Angel and Ella jumped on Tally (forcing her to put one of the weird cashmere tops Dr. Martinez had in her closet.).

Both Tally and Iggy snuck out of the house (leaving a note, of course, couldn't go anywhere without Max knowing….or else she'd get all up in your face) before the eager kids made them lose any more of their sanity. Or brain cells.

So now, they walked through the small town absent-mindedly, Tally keeping an eagle eye out for anything that might jump out at them (Itex was gone, but who said there weren't any baddies out there just _waiting_ to try and squish two little impaired bird kid pyros?) and Iggy was concentrating on _not_ telling everyone he came in contact with to shut up and could they possibly jump off a cliff so that he could tell _where the heck he was walking?_

The dark haired girl froze when she came in front of a big sign depicting the words "Dairy Queen." She gave Iggy a picture and eagerly pulled him inside the brightly colored ice cream shop.

-

"So, what do you think Iggy and Tally are doing right now?" I asked, stealing some of his spicy Doritos.

"Playing tonsil hockey," Fang muttered drily, swatting my hand away.

I smacked his shoulder, "Okay, eww! She's your sister, and that's our brother!"

Fang shrugged, "Doesn't mean it isn't true."

_I don't doubt you for a minute that it might be true, I mean, it's just disgusting! Ah, great, now I'm going to have the very vivid picture of Tally and Iggy sucking faces swimming around my mind and giving me nightmares for _weeks!

"Max," Fang called.

I held up a finger, "Wait. I'm trying very desperately to erase that last image."

He sighed very audibly, eyes wandering back to the kids running around and reeking havoc in the arcade.

But I could've sworn his lips twitched up a bit, like when Tally was watching Iggy and Fang argue over something.

-

Talon was confused.

Where was Iggy taking them?

He was leading her down the street—with one of his arms around her shoulders and one of hers around his waist—and an eager look was on his face.

But then he stopped suddenly and shrugged off his sweatshirt, letting his wings out through the slits in his shirt. Tally ogled at the creamy feathers for a while before noticing that he expected her to take hers out too.

She gave the place a good 360 before letting out her soot colored wings out, sighing at the comfort of not having them squeezed against her back. (It was becomes very tiresome after a while, like making a non-ballerina person balance on their tiptoes or something, she supposed.)

She gave scanned around the little alleyway before going into a running start—Iggy on her heels—and jumping into the air, letting her wings lift her into the air. With Iggy's hand barely brushing against her ankle.

She opened her mouth to ask where they were going but quickly closed it.

"Above the clouds, somewhere we can see the sun set," he said, trusting her to guide them around the floating cold and wet fluff mounds.

She clicked her tongue twice before carefully maneuvering around them all and picking out a nice empty space. (High enough that they would be confused for birds, but not _too_ high that even her bird lungs started to strain.)

She knew full well what he meant by "So we could see." He wanted her to show him what the sunset looked like with her powers. And she would. Could she really deny him anything? She doubted it. The mere fact that he had an inane way of convincing her and making her smile was proof of that.

The fact that he could uncannily guess what she was thinking at him didn't bother her too much any more, it just tormented her a bit. She could always just chalk it up to a new power. He was eerily good at adapting, anyways, far better than she was. Or maybe he was just attuned to her. But she was betting her money on the first one.

They hovered in the same place for a while, Tally keeping her eyes on the clouds.

Then it happened.

They started to brighten up to a yellow shade and Tally started showing this all to Iggy. Then they turned pink, bathing them in a reddish tint. The sun was just barely visible with her raptor vision and being to high above, plus, y'know, the clouds in the way were a key factor in the visibility.

Gradually, they turned into a cotton candy like purple, then everything turned an inky violet.

_That was gorgeous. _She turned to Iggy, seeing a happy smile on his face. _Just like him to be sarcastic one moment, appreciative of the simple things, then have kiddish grin painted on his face. _

_-_

Soon enough, Max had made one of her executive split second decisions and told the Flock they were leaving now that Tally was okay.

But Talon just guessed that she was looking for an excuse to leave—being either a restless free spirit or concerned about her mother's welfare when hanging around a band of danger attracting mutants with wings patched onto their backs.

Max's mother wanted to make this sort of—what did she call it? Talon couldn't remember, she was paying more attention to the staring contest she was having with Iggy and Fang—club. Cow-election to stop madness?

But why would they need cows to go all diplomatic and have an election? She doubted they could give two twigs about genetic splicing and recombinant experiments either, just like all the other snobs in DC.

Or maybe it was an election to stop mad-cow disease(Dr. Martinez _was_ a vet)? But why the heck would Max give a snot about _that_?

Tally angled her wings to glide along on an updraft, adding a good twenty miles per hour to their usual ninety. Bringing it up to about one-ten.

Maybe it was cocoa-lition? Then that made her wonder what a chocolatey beverage had to do with anything. It was a beverage for pete's sake! (A really good one, but a beverage nonetheless!)

Talon's head turned when she heard giggling.

_You just love my rambling, dontcha Ange?_ She thought wryly while the rest of the flock gave them the standard, "What's going on?" look.

"Tally's just being really _really_ funny," Angel said, giggling some more.

_Yeah, yeah, now everyone wants to know what the heck is up with my mind…_

"Bet you five bucks she was just thinking random thoughts," Iggy said over the roaring wind, smirking from her left side.

_You know, bucko, you are lucky you can practically read my thoughts and that I am not more like Fang or you would be five bucks poorer. _

"Iggy, she just called you 'bucko,'" Angel said. "And that you won your five bucks."

_Did he even direct the bet at me? Wait, he must've, I'm the only one besides Max with a credit card stuffed in her jeans. _

"Sooo," Max began, giving Tally a wicked grin.

_I don't trust that grin. Maybe I should fly away while I have all my feathers in tact. _

"What was she thinking before, Angel?"

_Horrible. You are horrible. Just want to splay my thoughts all over the place, don't ya? _Tally aimed a round of dagger glances Max's way.

"Well, about Cow-Elections and cocoa-litions."

Tally turned her eyes upward and tried to force Angel out. And she did that the only way she knew. Sure, Max was going to throttle her for it later, but she just _had_ to get the mindreader out.

So she thought of that little scene in that one movie with the romance and the kissy faces and all the nastiness.

Angel just tilted her head. "That's not so bad. At least not as bad as when Fang is thinking about—"

The six year old stopped cold when she saw the dark look on Tally's brother.

_Hmm, we're twins right? Then how come it doesn't work when I try it?!_

She looked to the side when she felt Iggy's wing whap hers. _What'?_

_Cow-election? Cocoa-lition?_ He mouthed, the grin still on his features.

_Don't ask,_ she thought at him, knowing that he would know—what with his strange little ability.

-

_**You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!**_

_**Today's date: **__Already too late!_

_**You are visitor number: **__Broken Thingy Majigger_

_**Tally Here—I Rose From the Dead**_

_I feel like you all should hit me with a toaster or something for not getting up earlier and seeing all the responses I got for __**Tally Catching the Pigs in Action**__. Anyways, I woke from the dead all right. Like, uh, what's that one fairy tale with the girl falling asleep and the little pigs and waking up and then getting kissed?_

_Eck, don't answer, I'll Google it next time I steal the laptop from Fang. (I think its Sleeping White and the Three Little Pigs Who Blew Down Uncle's House…or maybe not…I got it from Iggy and I don't trust him with telling me that type of stuff. Not after the time he told me to pull Gazzy's finger before I knew what his name meant…Nope, I don't trust him with this type of sensitive information—he like tricking me too much)_

_So, when I rose from the dead, I was introduced to Max's mom and sister, told about Franken-doggy who actually turned out to be a decent guy and who we are holding a funeral for, told about Itex being overthrown by the Maxocracy and about how I missed the fight with flyboys that turned Fang's face into plum-banana pie. _

_And I finally found out what it's called, it ain't Cow-election to stop the madness, or Cocoa-lition, its Coalition to Stop the Madness. But for my benefit, they call it the CSM. Or were going to. Max cornered her mom after Fang cornered her after I cornered him about not thinking it was a good idea. No CSM for us, h-e-double toothpicks no. _

_So I guess we're going to fly around and fend for ourselves for the rest of our lives with the government's higher ups having absolutely no idea that we exist. Fine by me. _

_Well, I gotta go, Fang is looking at me like he wants to shove a pointy object through my skull…I think I'm going to go hide behind Iggy. Yeah, I'll do that._

_-Tally, hiding from twin's wrath_

**A/N: Okay guys, whatcha think? No Final Warning or MAX…but where's the FAX? Well…that's coming up. Next chapter I hope. I gave you fluff. And updated sooner.**


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: Note to self: Next time I want to feel crappy just look at the reviews of other MR fanfictions with a seventh flock member. Then scroll down and look at all the dang reviews that say blatantly say "White hair" and "Mary-Sue" in the same sentence. Yeah. Not the best mood to write ****Dark Blue****. Don't be surprised if it goes from "Comedy" to "Horror" with me hacking off heads with gruesome details. Whatever, I feel sarcastic as hell so on with the story.**

**Can anyone pick out the (altered) New Moon quote? (which I do not own)**

**WARNING:**** FAX. The real kind. You won't need to squint this time :)**

**DISCLAIMER****: If I owned Max Ride, I would be insanely rich, and Tally would be a part of the Flock. **

**CLAIMER****: I OWN TALON GHOST (GH05T)!!! YOU STEAL HER, AND YOU WILL DEAL WITH MY WRATH!! **

Dark Blue

Chapter 18

Tally stretched her wings out, enjoying the cool breeze on them.

They were somewhere in the Adirondack Mountains in the northeastern part of New York. Max had decided to just cruise around until the voice would tell her something. Which was what they did a majority of the time anyways.

They had left Dr. Martinez's place a while ago, doing what Talon called "The cliché flying into the sunset move." _("Mmm, that makes for bird kids, extra burnt and crispy," said Iggy, patting his stomach and licking his lips once Angel had shared Tally's thoughts.)_

_I wonder is Max is going to let us go to New York, _Tally caught sight of Iggy teasing Gazzy out of the corner of her eyes. _Uh…I retract the last statement. It's supposed to be overflowing with people so it wouldn't be the best idea for a blind guy to get his bearings, or a mute girl to get lost. And possibly kidnapped by any leftover whitecoats. _

_So yeah, it's a definite "no" on New York City. I'd hate to see who Angel could convince into buying the Empire State building…or what Iggy and Gazzy could blow up (but I really shouldn't be talking on _that_ particular note)…or who's ear Nudge could make bleed…Or how many Fang-girls would tackle my brother…or who Max would deem most worthy of her knuckle sandwich and sarcasm. _

-

She had brandished her little piece of plastic, offering to pay for dinner. That is, she did that once Gazzy and Nudge were about to get an earful out of Max about whining so much. Which not one of the older kids wanted to have happening, nope, last time Max got annoyed like that, she gave Fang glares of death and then doubled on Tally. Why? No one knew. It was one of the many mysteries of the world.

So after they had practically robbed a small diner of all the food they had stored somewhere, they sat themselves down at a booth that could fit seven bird kids.

The adults around the room had been giving them glances, and Angel was even waving at some of the kids that looked her age.

Her eyes scanned around and she caught sight of a parent scolding a kid for having his elbows on the table. Iggy turned to her, with his little habit of just _knowing_ what she was thinking, and grinned at her.

Talon put one elbow on the table and made a show of pulling her legs up to sit Indian style, making tons of noise.

Iggy wagged his finger at her, having heard her shift right next to him, "Now, now, Elizabeth, it's bad table manners to have your elbows on the table! And for God's sake, put your feet on the ground!" he said in a deep voice that made the younger kids giggle.

Tally cocked one eyebrow before, like clockwork, she and the younger kids put _both_ elbows on the table, grinning.

Her brother was chuckling, while Max was full out grinning, and then she and Iggy fell all over themselves laughing like idiots when they heard the indignant huff of the parent that was trying to straighten out his kid. _Who tries to straighten out a kid _that _young? _

The real laugh-fest though, began when the plates—no, _mountains,_ of food began to arrive with the beverages and the horrible table manners that came with being a bird kid.

The raven haired bird girl saw more than one adult turn away in disgust when she saw Iggy and Gazzy practically inhale two cheeseburgers the size of Total, then proceed to make idle talk, showing the contents of their mouths.

_Somehow, I don't think these small town people were expecting to see chewed mushy stuff in the Gasman and Iggy's mouths. _But her eyes widened at that point, and she scooted as far away from the Gasman as the booth allowed, Iggy clutching her as he did his tell-tale choking move, pretending to die on her.

_I feel bad for the people that sat beh—_but there was no time to feel sorry for anyone. _Oops, suppose they couldn't keep their food down. WAITRESS! There is a colorful and stinky mess waiting for you! Bring a gas mask! Maybe some goggles too! This is nasty!_

-

Tally volunteered for fourth watch, which was fine by me, I could catch a few more hours of sleep.

But then again, the calloused hand shaking me awake wasn't part of the scheduled program.

I automatically awoke, and was met with deep, intelligent black eyes. "Wanna go for a spin?" he asked, motioning to the inky sky dotted with twinkling stars above us.

I opened my mouth to ask why but then turned to where Tally was.

She was very _cozy_ next to Iggy, their fingers laced together and…she was looking straight at us with a smug smirk on her face.

Cue dagger glances—the ones that said "Speak of this and you shall die a feathery death with my _foot_ conveniently slammed in your _face._"

She splayed her hands out in the universal "don't shoot" surrender type of way. But the smirk never left her face, not even as she gestured for us to move along (like how grannies are all-knowing and will say "Move along, whippersnappers.") and she winked.

I stood up from my "bed" (a little place on the ground, that was free of ants, rocks and that stuff. You complain about your mattress being _horrible _for your back? Yeah, try sleeping on the freaking _ground_ then stop being a weenie about your _mattress._) and flipped Talon off.

Fang chuckled from _right behind_ me, and I swatted his arm. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?!"

"Stop what? Breathing?" he asked coolly, before taking a running start and launching him self into the sky.

I blinked, a strong sense of de já vu hitting me. Didn't we have that mini-convo back at the "E" house in Colorado? The morning that Angel got kidnapped. And consequentially, the day that our almost-but-not-quite normal lives got turned upside down.

Shaking off my strange moment there, I jumped into the sky, and flew to where Fang was circling a few hundred feet in the air.

He turned north-north east and we flew in companionable silence, just enjoying how awesome flying was. But you guys wouldn't understand that now would you?

Well, imagine one of those roller coasters and that small instance when you could close your eyes and pretend you were free falling, or when you jump into the pool with your eyes closed and laughing, that moment before you hit the water…just magnify it all by about…a gajillion. Then you have what it feels like to fly. It's heaven—right smack in the middle of heck.

Then again, there are the horrible moments when we are attacked in mid air by Itex's latest experiments…and then it's all just _crap_. Letting adrenaline and instinct drive you and help you win and allow you to not worry about that black eye that's swelling shut or the blood trickling down your chin because of the split lip. (Or the smell of burning hair when you get too close to one of the Pyro Trio's explosions, for that matter…)

It took me a moment to figure out that Fang was landing, at which point I had to double back a few dozen feet and swoop down by him.

We were at a nice little pond, the full moon reflecting on the rippling, dark water, the trees lightly swaying in the breeze.

I smiled, _And Itex wanted to get rid of a majority of the people and hog things like these? Or they would've dug it up or something. _

"It's about five AM…" Fang said, glancing at the now waning stars and skipping a rock across the pond, disrupting the relatively calm surface.

I jumped a bit, half forgetting he was there with me.

I sat down by him, watching him skip rocks across the pond.

"What's up?" he asked casually.

My stomach churned when I remembered something…really suddenly.

Hadn't the last time we had been together and alone been when I had a mini-meltdown in the cave and he…

Oh great.

This was just lovely.

Please let the last bit of de já vu that I got be the _last._

Last time it was way too awkward.

"Max?" called Fang, putting one olive hand on my shoulder and looking at me with concerned eyes. "Is it the Voice?"

I shook my head, tensing a bit. "No…just thinking."

"Don't think too much, you might get hurt," he said lightly, a smirk coming to his features.

_That annoying smirk! I swear to whoever will listen that I will wipe it off _both_ their faces one day!_ "Shut up."

"But really, what were you thinking about?"

Oh _crap_. "What we're going to do next," I said and mentally congratulated myself. _Great job Max! Perfectly realistic lie! He'll never know the difference. _"I mean, I got rid of Itex, so no one should be after us…" I sighed. "In theory."

"Explain," he said, regarding me with that patient look of his.

"Well," I began. "The Chinese already know about us, from what the whitecoats at the School told us, right? So that means that other people probably know about us, too. People not with Itex but still willing to snatch up one of us…" I ran a hand through my hair. "We're as much targets as ever…possibly bigger since Itex isn't here to have a claim on us anymore…we'll probably be on the run again pretty soon."

Fang nodded. Was it me, or did he scoot closer to me while I was talking? "That makes sense," his hand moved up to my shoulder. Since when did he have his hand on me anyways? "But you shouldn't worry too much about—about us being on the run."

"We dealt with Itex. We'll deal with whatever else comes at us." Something about his tone of voice hinted at me that we weren't talking about the Flock anymore. "Nothing will change. We'll still be together."

His eyes were blazing as they looked at mine before he pressed his mouth against mine.

And, just like when we were in the cave, my mind just went blank. Well not blank…per say; more like it was only thinking: Fang. Fang. Fang. Fang. Fang.

If flying was bliss than kissing Fang was _ten_ times what that was. One of his hands was around my waist and the other at my neck, making sure I didn't escape like I did last time. While my hands were tangled in his hair.

_Fang. Fang. Fang. Flying into the sunset with Fang. _

And then hysterical laughter reached our ears.

We separated and turned around only to see the rest of the Flock in varying emotions.

Iggy was the source of the laughter, with Nudge, Angel was giggling and Gazzy looked like he was going to gag. Tally was making wild gestures, before she looked at her brother guiltily and then pointed at the rest of the flock accusingly. _Their fault!!!_ written all over her face.

"_Ugh! I'm going to kill you all!" _I shrieked, falling into a chase.

Tally's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she took off, landing behind her brother and using him as a shield. Well, I wasn't going to chase her anyways, I was focusing more on Iggy, who had to have been awake getting feedback from Tally when we left and woken the rest of the flock and followed us.

Typical.

What a way to start the morning.

Fly around with Fang. Kiss Fang. Then get the heck annoyed out of me by the Flock. _Lovely_.

-

Tally gave her brother a grin a held out her hand for a high five. _You nailed it, bro. _

He slapped her hand, also grinning. "Yeah, but you had to spill it to Iggy, didn't you?"

She gave a sheepish shrug and mimed, _He's my boyfriend. I'm sorry for that, you know. _


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: Err….right. I need to address this—like, now. People have been asking me on and off "Can you read this and tell me what you think? I want to make it a book." Well, simple answer to this: I'll read it. I'll criticize it, and tell you my thoughts, gush the way I usually want people to gush when I let them read the Prologue and First Chapter of my Hopefully-Soon-to-Be-Published-Book-**_**Immortality**_**. Now, how are we going to go about this? Well, on my profile, there's this little link that says "E-Mail" right at the top. Click it. Go through all the instructions and send me whatever you want to send me of your also Soon-to-be-published-book. I really feel honored when you guys even **_**ask**_** me about this. Now I've been getting a lot. From my friends. And from my readers (whom I love and adore in a non-stalker like way :D). So, this chapter of ****Dark Blue**** is dedicated to all you guys who make me feel **_**very important**_** by letting me read your stories and trusting me not to leak it or talk about it with anyone else. ^-^**

**Okay, mushy stuff over. On to the next chapter!**

**Chapter 19**

**Dark Blue**

Tally walked over to the fire, her steps as muted as her voice, and warmed her hands.

She hadn't slept.

She hadn't been able to sleep for more then four hours for a while now. She had a lot to think about too. The fact that Nudge had suddenly discovered that she was able to attract metal and things while they she and Tally went to get things from a convenience store... And a quick call to Dr. Martinez who had Jeb there to explain to them that they were likely to start self mutatating…

It was just a whole bunch of unnecessary complications added to their lives.

Her lips quirked when she saw Max looking at the sky and getting up to "affectionately" kick the rest of the Flock awake, tossing a bag of popcorn Tally's way.

She caught it, of course, and half considered reaching for a stick and impaling it to roast it over the fire, but then thought better of it and did it the usual way. _How do you cook microwaveable popcorn? Easy, ask Max. She's the queen of knowing how to "cook" (or burn) things that make obnoxious machine gun like sounds. _

And of course, Max attempted to wake up Iggy…which ended like it usually did. "Ugh…bite me."

Max sent Tally an evil grin before kicking Iggy again, "Nah, that's more of Tally's thing, Igs."

And at that point, Tally could feel her face getting _extremely_ warm.

"And then she says that _I'm_ gross…" Fang muttered, materializing at her side.

_Max!!!! Is it really fair to pick on someone who can't spit a witty retort back!!! _ Talon turned away from everyone and opened a bag of popcorn, placing another one to cook.

"What's that sound?" Iggy asked suddenly.

Tally instantly looked up, cold dread slipping down her spine, _What fresh hell is this?_

She turned her eyes to the place where Iggy was pointing at, bracing herself. _Sure, it could just be us finally loosing what little marbles we have, or acquiring some of the rocks that Fang to infamously has in his head. Maybe it's a bunny? Hippity hopping and making a loud fuss to make us freak the heck out? Then again, that would make sense if this was some normal little wimpy human living their normal lives, not the life of a genetic mutant on the run from only who knows what. _

And then she heard it—loud thundering sounds. Not the usual buzzing of flyboys or the snarling of Erasers.

_Shit!_

She sprinted for her pack and got her wings out, the whole Flock looking at them both oddly.

"What's wrong, guys?" asked Max, looking at them both oddly, cautiously.

Tally turned to them, incredulous, and eyes frantic. _How can you not _hear_ that?! Thundering sounds! No thunder clouds in sight! Hello! Have you guys gone _deaf?!

"What do you mean what's wrong? _Something_ is coming this way, I don't recognize the sound, and Tally obviously doesn't either," Iggy said bitingly, shouldering his pack. "So we're doing the _logical_ thing, and doing an Up and Away."

_Why aren't they moving?! Have they got some urge to watch the grass grow?! _Talon thought, miffed.

Max seemed to be having a battle with herself, so Talon gave her brother a pleading look. _Lets get out of here before we become kibble bits, or canned bird kid spam, like, NOW!_

"It—it sounds like a thunderstorm…" Angel said uneasily, regarding Talon and Iggy with her glazed eyes. _She's listening to the sound through our _heads?!"But there aren't any thunderclouds…"

Little blonde Angel, Max's baby, walked up to the fearless leader and pulled on her sleeve, yanking Max out of any conversation she was having with the Voice. "We should leave. It sounds like a lot of whatever those thing are, are coming."

Max nodded, picking up her pack, "Let's do a U and A guys, I'll explain what the Voice said once we're out of these things' range."

Iggy, of course, was completely on edge, even as he and Tally just jumped right from where they were standing, eight feet in the air and forced their wings to get them in the air quickly.

Tally's hands were twitching as she turned her head this way and that, scanning the air for anything that might get them noticed. They never left the cover of the tree tops though, that would be like putting a big bull's eye on them, right between their wings.

Iggy's sightless blue eyes flickered to and fro, turning his head as well to better grasp where the sound was coming from.

Talon waited a bit as the rest of the Flock got up to their altitude, and brushed her hand against the side of his face.

_Nothing, _she thought at him. He would know what she was thinking, with his odd ability. Something that was akin to how Max and Fang through little secret and knowing glances at each other…but bordering on something like Angel's eerie mind reading power.

"Which way?" Max asked Iggy, giving the sky a sweep much in the same way that the raven haired bird girl had done.

Iggy tilted his head one way, looking like a puppy hearing a new sound, before point the opposite way.

And they flew in silence, without Nudge's chatter, or Total's whining.

_This is dangerous,_ Tally thought. _Way more danger than we're used to. This is like putting a blindfold on all of us, and deafening the Flock…just what are we dealing with? Flyboy Version 2.0 with super ninja stealth skills? _

Tally's hands twitched again, _Need to calm myself down before I blow something—or someone up…_

She slowed down, looking directly behind them as the thundering drifted away.

"Tally? Where are you?" Iggy asked, accidentally having flown away with the rest of the Flock when she slowed down.

She gave a low whistle, fogged over eyes flicking over everything. _Something's not right here. _

"What do you mean Tally?" Angel asked her out loud.

Tally placed one long finger against her lips in a shushing gesture, and then motioned them to wait. She hovered in place for a second before flying a few feet back the way they came.

And then she caught it. A hulking shadow moving under them, weaving through the trees.

_Oh crap!_

Quickly, Tally did a sort of barrel roll and flew right at the Flock, thinking very strongly, _Let's get the hell out of here! Now! _

Which just seemed to be the story of her life—"get the hell out of here," which usually was caused by some new experiment or prototype or man hunter sent after them…

They gained altitude, above the clouds, when Max began to talk.

"The Voice said that whatever they were sending at us was going to be harder to beat than anything the Flock as ever faced…" she said clearly, a twinge of fear in her eyes. Fear for the Flock: she never cared much about herself, and Talon knew that by now.

"Anything else?" Fang asked, seeing as the rest of the Flock was too shocked to say anything. (His sister didn't really have a _choice_ on the matter of speaking, though)

"Something about a bunch of countries pinning for us…and the usual 'Connections Are Good, Maximum,' with some stuff about sticking close, and some coordinates."

_Well, that's straight forward. It didn't give you any fancy mumbo jumbo? Just coordinates? Does it want us to pick up its dry cleaning or something?_

"Talon, what did you see that freaked you out so much?" Max asked, using her _I'm leader and I want some answers_ voice.

Fang's sister gave a grimace before reaching up to brush her hand against Max's ankle, sending her the less than pretty picture.

_Shadows jumping around in the forest at mind boggling speeds, the blood red gleam of a robotic eye before the lumpy figure dashed away, its mouth stitched shut into a permanent smile. _

Max looked at Talon oddly. "Was that a robot or something morphing?"

Tally shrugged her shoulders.

"And it had its mouth sort of stitched shut…"

_Connections…what could the voice mean by that?_

-

They settled down in another remote place, completely ignoring the Voice in a typical Max move.

Not that Tally actually _minded_ being in a motel instead of the usual dirt and pebbles that consisted of her mattress, sometimes adopting Iggy as her personal pillow.

It was especially nice that by the time she had checked in (_Jacking that witch, Anne Walker_, _for everything she's worth_, Tally thought with a wicked grin, scaring Total) they gad put out the continental breakfast.

And with seven Avian Americans in the same room as a free breakfast buffet…well, it's safe to say that not one dish was left un-tasted by the ravenous Flock.

Max had actually chosen a bit more wisely and steered them away from everyone else in the room so that they could stuff their faces.

They just needed to relax some…

_Well, not really relax, 'cause then we will end up killed if we're relaxed, dead like…er, a dead person? Maybe a tree or something. But aren't trees alive? Dang. Something that doesn't grow…which would be a dead…A ROCK! _

_Wait, shoot, Fang has a bunch of those in his head so they _can't_ be dead…_

Tally impaled a pancake that had been drowned in maple syrup, strawberry jam and butter and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Pass me my juice, will ya, Tally?" Iggy asked her, as close as 'Please' and 'Thank You' as he was going to get. Manners weren't high on the priority list when you were on the run.

_Sure Ig…_ she thought.

And he gave a start. "Did you just talk, Talon?"

The whole table suddenly went silent, forks and knives clinking against porcelain. "What do you mean, Iggy?"

Tally regarded him calmly, he was doing it again. Picking little quips from her head.

"Tally just said, _Sure Ig,_ right Tally? Tell them!" he said a brilliant smile getting on his features.

"_Did_ you, Tally?" asked Fang.

She shook her head, tapping Iggy's hand _no_.

"But I heard your voice! It sounds sort of like Fang's and a bit low, but Idunno, more girlish!"

Tally blinked before calmly motioning Gazzy to hand Iggy his juice. _Was he going nuts?_

He sighed before grabbing the cup, then frowning. "Not my cup. Mine's is the green one."

And once more, the table fell into stony silence when they realized that no one had told Iggy what color his cup was.

Tally frowned, _What is going on? Did we walk into the Twilight zone by accident? Or maybe who ever governs teenage mutant (ninja) bird kids_ _is just screwy and far too hyper?_

_How do you know your cup is green, Iggy? _She thought, taking a sip from her apple juice.

"I just do, Tally," he said, taking a sip from his cup. Which caused everyone to start looking between them like they were wackos.

"Which green cup, Ig? Light or dark?" Max asked casually.

"Dark," he said.

Everyone was silent, and then Iggy frowned. "Huh, did you guys tell me what color the cups were?"

"Nope," Max said quietly.

_And I didn't send him a picture._

"Quit talking about me as if I'm not sitting right next to you, Tal," Iggy said.

Then he seemed to glare at the table, and then shook his head, "I'm still—I still can't see squat. No vision. Nothing." He reached out his hand until he touched his cup. "But this cup is green."

Gazzy pushed over another cup, "What's this one?"

Iggy felt for it, then closed his hand around it. "Yellow?"

"Yeah," Fang said. "How about this?" he handed Iggy a napkin.

"Blue?" Iggy asked. "It feels blue."

No one said anything as they digested that.

_Self-mutations. _That's what Jeb had told them all.

Nudge timidly reached her hand out and a fork went flying to her hand.

"Have you guys been playing in toxic waste again?" Fang asked severely.

Nudge giggled. "No."

"Bitten by a radioactive spider?" Fang went on. "Struck by lightning? Drink a super solider serum?"

"No, no, no," said Iggy, reaching for things around the table, and his hand landed on Total, who had been hiding in Tally's windbreaker and had come up to see the outside world. "You're black."

_My clothes, or Total? _Tally thought, a smile dancing on her features.

"Both," Iggy said.

"Iggy got _two_ new powers," said Angel from Max's side. "Tally doesn't have a new one. Iggy's just really in tune with her, he can nearly hear her voice, or what he thinks it would sound like, and practically read her mind…"

_Which means you are going to be listening in on my random spurs of rambling? _Tally thought, distressed. _Ah shucks, now I got more people digging through my head. _

Iggy snorted, "You betcha. How do you think _I_ feel? Imma be listening g to your girly thoughts all day long."

Tally smacked his arm, completely ignoring whatever the Flock was now discussing and settling for brushing her lips against Iggy's cheek.

Girly, pssh, was he loosing his marbles?

**A/N: I didn't completely solve Tally and Iggy's problem with the non-communication thing. Which you will see later. So no yelling at me for waning it down. Anyone like this chapter? I've been rereading the most sarcastic things I could find to get back into this, and eating lotsa icecream to sound hyper like I usually sound when I write this.**


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

_Watch, by the end of the month, I will be completely insane. I won't be able to walk in a line properly without stumbling over thin air or forgetting to fly,_ Tally thought, a frown on her features. She plopped some teriyaki chicken in her mouth. _I promise you both, I will go crazy—or more crazy than I already am—with three people being able to access my thoughts. _

Iggy grinned and wiped his cheek of some barbeque sauce with the back of his hand (which just smeared it more). "Three people? Angel, and me, who's the third? Is there something you're not telling us?"

Tally rolled her eyes, _Well, you and Angel—but I'm not sure about you, you can only hear when I concentrate a bit—and myself of course. _

Iggy snorted in disbelief. "Yourself?"

_Yes, _her eyebrows scrunched together as she took a sip from her milkshake. _I mean, how else would I know what I'm thinking? I _have_ to be able to read my own mind. And I'm a person. So, logically, three people read my mind. _

"That makes no sense," he put his hand on his chin in a pensive way, completely serious. "Maybe you _are_ crazy."

Tally punched his arm lightly, stealing the Hot Cheetos before Fang could get his hands on them. _I am not going to dignify that with an answer. _Fang glared at her for stealing the bag of junk food and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Do you even know what 'dignify' means?" Iggy asked, amusement shining in his voice.

_Huh? _She asked, taken a bit off guard, a few Cheetos hanging out of her mouth. _Er…not really. I heard it on the radio and just thought it sounded good. Something from a commercial or something._

Iggy chuckled, "Well, I'm not sure either. Something with honor, probably, and dignity."

Tally blinked, _Why didn't I think of that? It was so obvious._

Iggy shrugged, laying his hand out and searching for his cup. She pushed it closer to him and took her hand back before he could notice.

"You know," Max said. "Hearing one side of your conversation is really weird."

"Just as weird as when you start yelling at the Voice?" Iggy remarked.

Max chucked the remote to the TV at him. "Ow!"

"Ugh, what I endure for you kids," Total said shaking his head and appearing by Tally.

Her gaze zeroed in on him before she picked him up and placed him on her lap, scratching between his ears. She liked Total. He was good at being funny…even if he didn't mean it half the time.

But then a thought hit her.

_HOW COME A _DOG_ GET'S A VOICE, AND I DON'T! ANYONE SEE ANY IRONY IN THAT?!_

"YOUCH! Lower the volume, will you, Tally?" Iggy yelped, covering his ears. (As if _that_ would help.)

Tally frowned at Total. _But it's true! The bird girl gets her voice taken away, and they fix up the dog so that he can speak a mile a minute! Now, where did I put that pocketknife I stole from Max?_

"Total, I'd get off her lap, like, right now," he said lightly. "Tally wants to find a knife and figure out why _you_ can talk and _she_ can't."

Tally glared at Iggy, _You make it sound like I'm going to slit his throat open, bucko._

He cocked an eyebrow, pulling her close to him, "And you weren't?"

_No, _Tally thought indignantly.

"Oh really? Then what were you going to do with the knife? Trim your nails?"

Tally looked away from Iggy, and then noticed the laughing faces of the Flock, Angel telling them everything that was happening.

Her eyes narrowed into a dark look. _Everyone's against me. I have nothing against Total. In fact, he's number one on my favorite experiment to hang out with list. Then comes Ange, Fang, Gazzy, Nudge and Max in second place…_

"And then me, right?"

_No, then come Erasers, and Flyboys…_

"And _then_ me?"

_No, then come those little dog crocodile hybrids, they're just so cute, and then comes Anne Walker…_

"Oh, good God," Iggy moaned melodramatically, falling backwards onto his back with a pained look on his face. "_Then_ me?"

_I dunno. I'm deciding whether to put you before Eraser poo or after it, _she deadpanned.

"Ugh! I have _got_ to be better than Eraser poo!" he complained loudly, putting his forearm over his eyes.

And that was when she could hear the rest of the Flock shrieking in laughter.

A grin appeared on her features and she crawled over to him, kissing his cheek. _Of course you're better than Eraser poo…_

"So I'm _before_ it, then?"

_Sure, but you're still after a Gazzy fart. _Way_ at the bottom of the list. _

Iggy gave an offended roar and tackled her.

-

Tally unclamped Iggy's fingers from her hand one by one then placed a kiss right beneath his jaw before quietly making her way to the window.

Was it really a surprise that Tally had twisted herself out of Iggy's grip to watch the stars outside?

Answer: No. Not really—at least if you knew her.

She didn't want to wake him up with her rambling thoughts.

It was really hard for her to sleep, knowing that there were _things_ out there, ready to snatch anyone from the Flock up, and hand them over to their superiors from foreign countries with little pink ribbons wrapped around their heads.

Well—maybe not the ribbons. But the rest was still very possible.

"Tal?"

She tensed at the sudden noise but still turned to see her brother standing there, a bit groggy and his hair was bit messier than usual, but still calm and cool as ever.

_Yeah?_ She mouthed.

"You okay?" he whispered, approaching her post by the window.

She nodded, fiddling with the end of her black sleeve.

"Can't sleep either, eh?" he asked casually, dark eyes flicking over the hotel parking lot and looking at the trees.

_Nope,_ she mouthed, making the popping sound of the "p." Her eyes slipped up towards the disappearing stars and she tapped his hand. When she had his attention, she put up six fingers.

Fang nodded then paused for a bit, then leaned over and opened the window.

She gave him a strange look but the comprehension dawned on her as he jumped out of the window and into the parking lot, at least a ten foot drop.

Talon climbed onto the sill before jumping after her brother, permitting herself a grin as she landed in a crouch.

She ran up to him, splaying her hands in front of her as a clear sign of "What are we doing?"

Fang looked at her, a smirk coming to his face, "Food at the gas station. And sibling bonding. What else?"

Tally rolled her eyes, _Sibling bonding my butt. _

But she took hold of his hand anyway, miming "Let's start the bonding then" as best she could with one of her hands in his.

-

_Well, that was pleasant, _Tally thought, then glared at Fang. _NOT!_

_Stupid Fang discovering a new power right in the middle of shopping for breakfast. Making me look everywhere in that teeny tiny place for him when he was RIGHT where I left him, snickering away. _

She huffed as they went in through the _door_ this time. And as soon as the door was shut and the bags were on the floor, she jumped onto his back (_He's grown another inch or two, dang._) but she really didn't count on him catching her and making sure she didn't fall from his back, yelping.

"Geezus, Tal!" he exclaimed. "Lay off the Cracker Jack!"

She glared as best as she could, holding on for dear life. _You're an idiot! You made the cashier think I was bonkers, bub!_

"More bonkers than you already are, Tally?" Iggy asked, grinning.

Her glare moved to him (who was with the rest of the flock, who were once more trying to keep the laughing down to a minimal by the TV) and she pointed an accusing finger at him. _You, shut up! You don't know what my _darling_ twin forced me to endure!_

"Then explain," he said easily. "And Fang's turning blue."

She let go of her vice grim and instead dug her nails into his shoulders."Dang it, Tal! I didn't mean to turn invisible on you!"

The flock instantly went silent.

"Excuse me," Max asked. "Did you say you just turned _invisible?_"

Fang nodded while Tally's anger started to pick up again and she bonked him on the head hard and pointed towards the ground with harsh movements.

Her brother let go of her, letting her land on her butt, with a snicker.

She rubbed her abused behind, sending him more dagger glances.

"Apparently, I can blend in with shadows…" Fang finally said, completely ignoring his irked sister.

_Yeah, and you just _had_ to make me look like an idiot, searching under that little thingy that cooks hot dogs, under the beverage cooler, behind the ice machine and ask some random hobo to check the men's bathroom!!!! The whole time, you were standing at the back of the store, in a shady corner, trying to decide between a Mars Bar and Snickers Bar!_

Iggy snorted, covering his mouth to try and force down his laughter.

-

_**You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!**_

_**Today's date: **__Neither my brother or I really care_

_**You are visitor number: **__Dumb thing's _still_ broken_

_**Tally Here-I Felt Like Gracing You People With My Presence**_

_You know, I really like Dane Cook. Max hates him. But we both find common grounds when it comes to Jim Gaffigan._

_Er…right. Why am I talking about comedians? Because I needed a laugh after Max started a whole speech about not making friends with the humans until we were in the clear and were sure the apocalypse (Max had to explain what that was to Gaz, Nudgy, Me and Angel) wasn't going to happen._

_So I Googled "comedians" and found, like, a zillion. _

_Jim Gaffigan was kid friendly…at least, the majority of it. One thing I'm grateful for? The fact that I had already had "The Talk" and had free reign to laugh my butt off when Angel turned to Max and asked, "What's circumcision? What's a penis?" _

_And…uh, well, Dane Cook was _not_ kid friendly. Iggy, Fang and I flew up into a tree and listened to him. Our favorite? The BK Lounge. Here's a small little bit._

"_I took a lady's order this one time. I'll never forget this. It goes like this…Ma'am, that'll be $3.75. Please drive around. And then there's, like, this long pause and then she goes: Where do I go? …Where do you go?! You follow the one F(censored)king road you're on to me! …Where do you—Ok ma'am, you're gonna go to the Texaco station. Take a right. Go five and a half miles southeast. You're gonna see a guy in a yellow poncho. His name is Hank. He'll take you to the Whopper Lair. That's where you go. And you've got 10 minutes to get there or we take your food!"_

_Down side to that? Iggy now wants to go to the nearest Burger King, follow the directions and see if there really _is _a guy named Hank who'll take us to the Whopper Lair. Fang says he'll have a New York Times and a rose in his teeth. _

_My thoughts? They're both more bonkers than I am. _

_Unless…_

_Oh man! Fang's looking at me with that death look again! Dang, he must've seen his Cracker Jack on my lap, gotta go!_

—_Tally, using Max as a human shield_

**A/N:**

**Me: Er…right. People have been kidnapping the Flock. It started with St. Fang of Boredom, who kidnapped Fang, went on to Aleria14, who kidnapped Iggy, and one of her friends got Gazzy, I kidnapped Max….and I think someone is in the process of luring Nudge away from Angel. So the only one left is Angel.**

**Max: Are you trying to get people to kidnap my baby?**

**Me: Of course. She needs to join in on the fun. **

**Max: You know something? I don't understand you. Like, at all. I understand you less than I do Angel. **

**Me: Oh, you wound me! You're just pissy because I forgot to buy more Cookie Dough Ice Cream. **

**Max: Eck. You still have Oreos. **

**Me: Can you let me **_**finish**_** talking to my nice reviewers and readers?**

**Max: -rolls eyes- Not really. Your sisters listening to some freaky rap stuff and your parents are rambling in Spanish. You are my last option to annoy.**

**Me: You know, sometimes I wonder why I kidnapped you. **

**Max: Because you love me? –sees her fiddling with her match again- Hey! Put that match down! I don't need you to burn anything again!**

**Me: -whines- Oh, come on! You can't tell me setting that cockroach on fire **_**wasn't**_** hilarious!**

**Max: =.= Maddy, you, have problems. Are you sure you aren't an Eraser in disguise or something?**

**Me: Nah. Wanna give a shout out to your fave flock boys, Maxxy?**

**Max: Stop calling me Maxxy and why?**

**Me: So that they know your all right. **

**Max: …How about you let me go? :)**

**Me: Uh….not a chance in heck. **

**Anyways, review!!!!**


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

**Somewhere, Spain**

A tall woman strode down the bleach white halls of her very own little "Facility," her shined oxford heels almost soundless against the steely gray carpet.

She stopped in front of a door labeled "Goblins" and pressed a four digit code on a keypad and pressed her thumb against a small scanner for confirmation and the glass, which was previously tinted, became clear.

She put her hand up to her ear, where a small little headset was. Something she had come up with since the Goblins couldn't speak to her directly.

"Have you located zem?" she asked, gruffly.

"_Yes, ma'am." _The Goblin responded, its red eyes set into a lumpy pitch black face, appearing at the bars.

"Vhat happened next? Details," a frown twisted her features.

"_They have been running away. They are hard to keep track of when they disappear into the clouds," _it answered. Quick, concise and to the point, just how she trained them to be.

"Very vell, you have spotted ze girl, correct?"

"_Yes, ma'am. We should be able to capture them soon."_

"Very gud, very gud," Kravtsov turned on her heel and walked back down the hallway, thoughts of two genetic recombinant life forms on her mind.

-

They were flying again, after having interrogated Fang about his new power.

And even if they were in the clouds, far away from human eyes, Tally still felt like someone was watching her.

_Sheesh, what's wrong with me?_ She thought, trying her best to think _quietly_, shaking her head.

Iggy "glanced" at her but then shrugged and turned back to the conversation he and Gazzy were having.

The feeling of being watched, it happened right when they left their last campsite. She had stayed up all night long, staring at the woods just _knowing_ someone was in there. But she did not mention anything since the resident alarm system (Iggy) didn't say anything and neither did Max or Fang.

Which meant either of two things: either someone was following them or Tally was literally losing her marbles.

"Guys, let's land here," Max called. "We can look around town for some computer cafés or something."

Tally barely registered her voice and landed in a skidding halt, spraying rocks all over the place.

The flock gave her concerned glances and she felt her eyebrow twitch.

Ever since she had mysteriously gone into the "coma" they looked at her weirdly when she spaced. Not that she didn't appreciate all the love and how much her family loved her—honestly, she did!—but becoming the Flock's metaphorical weakest link was getting _really_ boring, _really_ annoying, _really _soon.

They wandered around the town, looking through glass windows at show cases and expensive and unnecessary things like jewelry and stereos. They had to wrestle someone away from things every once in a while. Designer clothing shop? Grab Nudge by the back of the shirt and haul her away. Potentially explosive things? That would be the Fang, Max and Nudge _attempting_ to push the pyro trio out of the store but resorting to Angel mind controlling them out. (_Creepy little girl…that felt _so_ weird!_) Bakery? Yeah, that was Tally and Fang trying to wrestle Max away from demolishing the store in her quest for cookies.

Angel…well, toy store, and it took one heck of a Max lecture to get her to come out of it.

And Fang, well, Fang kept on either being hit on the back of the head by Tally for blending in with shadows (while no humans were looking—mind you) or glared in submission by Max.

Either way, it was completely _exhausting_.

But right now, they were inside a computer café, drinking lots of caffeine, and Tally staring straight at the door, her eyes scanning the street they were facing meticulously.

Fang was sitting on her left, typing on the laptop while Max ordered beverages for the little kids.

Iggy was on her other side, sitting motionlessly and most likely cataloguing every sound around him and creating an invisible map. After all, he couldn't depend on her providing a picture for him forever.

"Are you all right, Tal?" Fang asked out of the corner of his mouth, poised to take a sip of his coffee.

She placed her chin in her hand and broke her oatmeal cookie into little pieces, nodding.

Iggy grabbed her hand under the table, running his calloused thumb over her knuckles before giving it a squeeze.

Tally closed her eyes. She did not feel safe. Not at all.

Normally, being anywhere around the flock provided her with enough comfort to ward off any thoughts of the Facility, the School or Itex or anyone that had the potential resources to capture her or any of her family…but something was off. Many alarms were sounding in her head, (Very annoying alarms that made her wonder acidly why the hell her subconscious had come up with them) and she was antsy to figure out _why_ they were ringing.

"Tally! Watcha doing?" Nudge asked, happily slurping her chocolate-whatever.

_People watching…_she thought, coming up with a quick lie. Nudge didn't need to know about her dark musings.

"She says she's people watching," Angel said, skipping to the table with Max and Gazzy in tow.

"Oh! That's cool! People watching, seeing all different types of people go by the window, categorizing them, coming up with little stories for people…Oh! But isn't that sort of stalker-ish? I don't like stalkers, they're creepy. Anyways…" Tally nodded at Nudge, feigning attention as she kept on rambling cutely. Talon handed her a napkin when her cup began to leave a little ring of condensation on the table.

But suddenly, she stopped. Tally's eyes opened and she saw Fang giving Nudge "the look."

Max cleared her throat, "All right then guys, lets get out of here and get to the place the Voice mentioned…maybe solve some of this mess about the newest baddies that have been sent after us."

The black haired girl got up from her seat without a second thought and walked out the door, following Max. But her head was still in the clouds.

"Zat's her, ze voiceless one."

Tally stopped, stock still before turning around, eyes frantically scanning everything. _Who said that?! _

"What's wrong, Tally?" asked Iggy stopping on the side walk. "Who said what?"

Which caused a chain reaction in the rest of the flock, each turning to figure out why they had stopped.

"Da. Ze one wiz a vhite streak in her hair," it confirmed.

_Dang it! Where the hell is she?!_

"Where's who, Tally?" Iggy asked, irritation starting to color his voice.

_Someone just said "Da. Ze one wiz a vhite streak in her hair"!!! And before that "Zat's her, ze voiceless one"!!!_ she thought, flexing her hands and causing a few ants that were by her feet to freeze.

"No one said anything Tally," Iggy whispered, reaching out to grab her hand. "We're alone on this street."

Tally shot him an incredulous look, _Are you calling me crazy?! I know what I heard! _She turned her head back to the street, rage at the woman starting to leak into her system and spread like a wildfire. _I know that witch is somewhere here! I swear to whoever will listen! _

The whole time, Angel had been relaying the conversation to the rest of the flock. "Tally," Max said. "No one's here. It's just your imagination."

Talon looked up, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, repressing the urge to punch an inanimate object.

_Fine._

-

Tally was flying at the back of the flock, silently stewing.

She wasn't crazy! It was fine to fool around and tease her playfully about her need to keep things tidy and clean, or her rambling thoughts, but to seriously accuse her of being insane? That would be the metaphorical straw that broke the genetically enhanced camel's back!

She glared at Iggy as he tilted his head this way and that. He could fend for himself.

"Where's Tally?" she heard him say to Gazzy.

The Gasman turned his head to meet her eyes (she made sure she wasn't glaring anymore). "She's pulling a Fang at the back of the flock. I can't tell if she's mad or sad or anything really."

"Oh."

What did he mean by "oh"? "Oh", as in a sarcastic "good for her"? Or "Oh" as in, "let her throw a hissy fit"?

She shifted her pack, turning her eyes down and watching the landscape pass.

If given the chance, would she trade her mutant life for normalcy? If she was normal, she could have lived a nice life with her brother…

Which seemed more like a myth…They had agreed that their mother was most likely some crack addict teenager that had abandoned them at an orphanage…

So normalcy probably would have meant that they were tossed from foster home to foster home or turned out once they turned sixteen.

But did she wish they were _normal_ teenagers some days?

Of course.

But then she remembered that she would not be able to fly if it weren't for not being normal.

She sighed.

"Guys! This is the place! Going down!" Max called, angling down for a landing in what looked like…

_IS THIS A MILITARY BASE?! _She thought horrified.

"Ouch," she heard Iggy mutter from a few wing spans ahead of her.

She looked to the person nearest her and saw Fang's eyes reflect the barest amount of horror that hers no doubt had.

_She's nutty. More batty than anyone I know…_

Talon scanned the ground before she spotted four figures on the ground. She focused in on all of them with her raptor vision, the image coming up to her better than a high definition TV.

_That's Max…That's some random people in camo…and…is that Jeb?_

She shot her brother a questioning look and he gave her one nod before going down after Max. Talon sighed, practically able to touch Fang's boots if she reached her hand out.

The rest of the flock landed behind them (not as silently, mind you).

Max turned to them, pulling her leader face on. "Guys, the military are willing to provide us with a safe house. One not far from here. It'd mean keeping safe from the latest threat for some time, a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in instead of trees and caves. What do you think?"

Talon thrust her hands into her pockets, snapping her wings tight against her back, one long chunk of black hair covering an eye as she surveyed the flock. The younger ones (and she was including Iggy) were cheering and showing varying degrees of enthusiasm.

_Great. Offer a bed, a TV, maybe a Lay-Z-Boy and they go haywire. Is this the caffeine we let them have kicking in? I don't want to deal with a hyper Angel…or Gazzy…bad things will happen…I don't even wanna know how he can turn an innocent latte into some sort of noxious gas that can knock out poor little woodland creatures…_

_Wait…that would make him…er…was it Snow White? Or that girl with the cinders and the rats and the flying godmother that puts wings to shame? I don't remember…but it involved animals…and someone dying…or am I getting things mixed up again?_

"All right then," Max turned back to Jeb. "Where do we go?"

-

They had been crammed into a car, and shipped off to some house.

And she coped with the claustrophobia and Fang repeatedly kicking her as a cause of _his_ claustrophobia by thinking really loudly about songs, and any random thing she could grab onto.

So it really wasn't too much of a surprise when Max nearly kicked the door off of the four wheel drive in an effort to _get out_. And the pushing and shoving and loud exclamations of "YOU STEPPED ON MY TAIL" made by Total weren't too surprising either.

The house wasn't too small…or too big either…but they went all out on the security. Fences, wires and other things that made Tally cringe. _Are they trying to keep others _out_ or us _in?

She didn't even set foot in the house before she proposed a flight to Fang.

So she was back in the air, enjoying the companionable silence that came with her brother, and enjoying the sights that came with night.

**A/N: Right now, I'll say it right now. NO FLAMES or INSULTS! I wrote a whole rant on them on dA, in my journal….and just….NO!**

**Max: She's really peeved about it since she saw a flame on one of her favorite stories…**

**Me: Yeah yeah…anyways…how did you fend for yourself today while I left you locked in my room for three hours?**

**Max: -rolls eyes- pretty well considering I've survived ERASERS! **

**Me: Didja get to talk to Saint, Fang, Aleria and Iggy?**

**Max: Saint and Fang, yeah. Fang needs some red slushies, and is asking for "Freedom-in-a-box." Why the heck did you offer him "Max-in-a-box" anyways?!**

**Me: Cause it was funny at the moment. And I had FAX on the mind. **

**Max: Right. I haven't heard much from Iggy…since you told him to tell Fang something that you REFUSE to tell me…**

**Me: Hey! I've baked you so much cookies that my hair won't wash out the smell! So just deal!**

**Max: No! I need answers! And I need them now! This is a Maxocracy!**

**Me: Maxocracy my butt! I am a Latina, not avian-american! I have **_**rights!**_

**Max: Right—**

**Me: claps hands over ears and squeezes eyes shut- Lalalalalalala I can't hear chu! **

**Max: =.= That is **_**so **_**mature. Guys, review, and I **_**might**_** consider sending you a virtual cookie…**

**Me: -cough- she means never –cough- -cough-**


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"You're still mad at Iggy?" Fang asked quietly, pulling out his laptop and powering it on.

Talon laid her head back on the bark of the tree they were in and shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't all that sure about it anymore. Flying around in silence helped clear her mind…

She snatched the laptop away from Fang as soon as he opened NotePad and typed out her response.

_I'm not totally mad at him. It's probably my mind playing tricks on me or something, maybe I'll get a nifty little voice like Max did? _

"So you forgive him?" Fang asked, regarding her patiently.

_I don't need to forgive him. I was more mad at whatever I heard. The voice sounded familiar and…whitecoat-ish. _

"So you took your frustration out on the nearest person."

_The nearest person that was starting to get an irritated tone._

Fang looked at her, a clearly perplexed edge to his eyes.

Tally sighed. _When you can't talk, you get to observe, as you probably know. Me and Iggy figured it out earlier; I can't participate in conversations, and he can't be biased based on sight so we end up picking up on tones of voices and things. You probably can too. _

Her twin nodded, showing his comprehension.

_Anyways, I'm not going to tell him I "forgive" him. Just because I do doesn't mean I can't make him suffer for a while longer. _She flashed him a wicked grin at that one, handing him the laptop.

He mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "never gonna understand girls."

-

"Where were you two?!" Max asked almost as soon as the Fang and Tally snuck back in and materializes behind her quietly. (Spooking her.)

"Out flying," Fang replied easily.

_He's doing an awful lot of talking today, _Tally thought amused. _I wonder if his talking muscles are all tuckered out? Maybe he should let his little used voice rest for a while before he starts the talking marathon again. _

"Well, you missed room assignments," her nose wrinkled up at that, displaying to them both exactly _how_ _much_ she liked being told what to do. "And the fact that they picked a safe house with a pool just for us…"

The black haired girl cocked an eyebrow, finishing Max's sentence. _A pool just for us—to entertain the kids more like, pssh. _

"Fang, your with Iggy, Me and Tally, and they decided to put the younger kids all in one room," she prattled off. Tally wandered around to the back of the house, where a large sliding glass door was open and a large pool was exposed.

The little kids were splashing around, dunking each other and swimming away. Angel was obviously winning a lot given her ability to breathe under water.

And then her eyes trailed over to where Iggy was, tossing Gazzy into the deep side of the pool, a bright grin on his features.

The sun shined on his strawberry blonde hair at just the right angle that if she squinted her eyes she could pretend his wings were white and he had a halo. He wasn't wet, by what she could tell. His hair was still sticking up like it always did and there wasn't but a few drops of water on him. And he was shirtless.

"Tally, stop making cow eyes at Iggy and go put on your bathing suit," Max quipped from behind her.

Talon's head snapped around and she glared at both Fang and Max (and their amused smirks), completely mortified and feeling her ears heat up.

She stomped away from the screen, muttering soundless words under her breath and planning on slamming all the doors she encountered until she reached her and Max's room.

- 

Tally cast a wary glance towards the woods, the feeling of being watched was back.

But she didn't really understand why they didn't just capture her and Fang while they were out on there flight. Had they been on orders not to? Was their some ulterior motive?

She slipped her thumb through the belt loop of her shorts before shaking her head and taking a seat by the sliding glass door, crossing her arms in an attempt to comfort herself.

_I need a distraction,_ she thought exhausted, closing her eyes. _All of this relative peace is bound to be grating on Fang and Max's nerves as well…jeez._

"What's wrong?" a voice came from behind her whispered, an arm snaking across her waist.

Her ears heated up, like they were on fire but she kept her face from showing that as best she could. _I don't feel safe. _

"And you need a distraction?" Iggy said, almost…cheerfully?

Tally stiffened when she felt him yank her up and over his shoulder. She banged her fist against his back, her mouth opening and closing in what would have been vicious swears and curses had she had a voice.

_Put me down! I'm _not_ a sack of potatoes! This is ridiculous! IGGY! Put me down this instant!_

"Nope," he said, and this time she could tell he was being completely cheerful judging by the happy grin on his face.

She barely had a moment to realize what was happening before water encased her with a giant splash. When she opened her eyes she saw Angel near the shallow end, laughing as best she could underwater.

Tally glared up before a smirk surfaced.

She pushed herself up to the surface not actually letting her head breech the surface.

She _did,_ however, flick her hand at the howling strawberry-blonde.

As soon as she saw no movement from him she came up for air, casually pulling herself out of the pool and standing behind him. She flicked her hand at him again to unfreeze him and pushed his larger form into the pool as best as she could.

He went in spluttering, while Tally busied herself with taking off her sopping top and shorts, revealing her wine colored tankini and bottoms.

"Omigawd! That was so great, Tally!" Nudge said laughing, practically tackling the black hair girl. "He totally did _not_ expect you to freeze him! I mean who would? You barely ever use your abilities unless we're fighting! Anyways, that was awesome! Wait, I already said that haven't I?"

Talon grinned at her, patted her soaking head.

"Oh great! And I wasn't planning on getting wet either!" Iggy said, finally coming up and pulling himself out right next to Tally.

_Then why the heck did you come out to a _pool_? _She thought at him, crossing her arms again.

He gave a carefree grin and winked, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Somewhere during that, her hand had found his and was firmly clamped onto it. _I didn't want to get wet either. But look at what you did now. You made me have to actually get wet as well. Wait, did that sentence even make sense? I don't think it made sense…Er…_

"Guys! Come on and get out! We ordered Chinese!" Max called, a little ruffled.

_Knowing Max, Fang is latched onto her hand, and my brother took another one of her leaderly conversations so that they could…ahem, be couple-y._

Iggy barked a laugh, "We'll be there Max! Make sure you wait for the food and don't eat Fang's face!"

Tally smacked Iggy's arm, grinning a bit.

"We're not the ones who are half naked," Fang muttered, loud enough for both of them to hear.

And Tally choked, scrambling away from Iggy, fire in her eyes. _FANG! You sexist pig! You are _so_ gonna be kibble by the time I'm done with you! _

Needless to say, Max jumped out of the way and Fang was chased around the house by his very embarrassed twin.

-

I looked at Tally as she smiled and laughed and couldn't help a grin of my own.

She was so carefree, especially when she was around the younger ones or Iggy, and it was nice to see that she seemed to have finally accepted the fact that she _belonged_ with us.

From the way that she nodded attentively at Nudge, how she chuckled as Gazzy shared his latest prank idea in her ear, when she scratched Total's ears while talking mentally to Angel.

And those little brushes of the hand that she shared with Iggy, something that seemed as private as a regular old PDA and made me need to turn away.

And the way that she and Fang fooled around, like how Gazzy and Angel used to be at the "E" house when we were sparring.

"Don't hog all the Fortune Cookies, Tally!" I ordered, seeing as she was discreetly gathering them all in her arms. She sent me a glare and stuck her tongue out, tossing one my way. "I know, I know, I'm an _evil_ leader to have made you_ share_."

With a huff, she relinquished the cookies, giving me a dark look.

And everything look so nice and family like and _normal_ for once.

But that wouldn't fit right? Never, _never_, are mutants supposed to be left alone to try out _normal_ lives.

So when I heard Angel's terrified scream as a small army of those _things_ Tally saw came rampaging _straight through_ the electric fence, I went into leader mode.

"Get your packs, U and A guys!" I commanded.

_Who's kidding? _I thought, running over to mine and Tally's room to get our packs. _We're _never_ going to get a chance to be normal._

Tally was buzzing around Iggy, occasionally flinching when he winced and made to cover his ears.

Her head snapped in my direction and she was suddenly pushing Iggy to the front door, her eyes frantic.

"They've come for _you_?" he said to her as she slammed the door open and I hustled the kids out, Fang in the front.

"No time to argue! Go go go!" I said, pushing them out as well, handing Tally her pack and shouldering my own.

Fang and I were last, but we both made it into the sky in one single bound.

"What happened to those people that were guarding us?!" Nudge asked frantically, pumping her wings hard to get some distance between the black things that were swarming the house beneath us.

"Mutiny! We have a mutiny on our hands!" Total said loudly from Tally's arms.

"Total, shut up!" I snapped, turning tail from the house and leading the kids away. And I didn't answer Nudge's question for a reason.

How would I explain to them that those people could have been plants? That they might've been killed?

I led them away from the house that was _supposed _to be safe. What was going to be our little vacation away from the hell of our every day lives.

-

Talon frowned, gripping Iggy's shirt with a death grip as she looked into the night.

"She's in zhere…" the same voice. The one that caused her sanity to be accused of for. "Make sure you grab ze other dark one too."

She ducked her head under Iggy's chin, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Hey, you alright?" Iggy whispered.

Of course he wasn't asleep. It was his "watch."

Her shoulders tensed before she gave a stiff shake of her head. _I'm scared. That person is outside, she's talking again…_

"Don't worry, Tally, we'll pull through this like we have with everything else," he murmured, pressing his lips to the top of her head.

But that didn't really stop her bird girl heart from going a million beats a minute, or the adrenaline and fright from pooling in her veins.

_I—I hope so, _she thought, jumping a bit when she heard a coarse "Now!" from that annoying voice that sent her into hysterics.

"Oomph!"

Both of them turned to the noise, eyes seeing Fang being pulled away from his position at the front of the cave by Max.

Tally quickly pulled out of Iggy's grip, scrambling to where he was, and where Angel and Max had snapped awake.

"Freeze 'em Tally!" Max called out just as Talon latched onto Fang's hand.

She nodded, flicking her wrist at the nearest glowing red, but only to achieve nothing. _It didn't work! Dammit!_

Her eyes locked on to her brother's, and she dug her heels into the ground and pulled back, highly aware of how futile it was while the rest attempted to punch whatever they were fighting.

_Fang!_ Talon thought frantically as another gruesomely clawed black hand grabbed hold of her forearm yanking her into the pit of darkness and shadowed bodies with her brother.

**A/N: Me: All right. I had been putting off writing this chapter for the longest while. For good reason. It was going to seem too rushed if I had put it where I wanted it initially, and that was **_**way**_** long ago. I don't have much to say. Read and Review I guess, this chapter has me depressed.**

**Max: Oh, and she forgot to mention that Tally has her own blog on Max-dan-wiz, one that she updates as much as she can. Link is on Mads's profile. **

**-Max and Maddy**


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Was it really necessary to say that Fang and Tally were thrashing violently against the hold of the hulking experiments?

They had tried everything, from punching and clawing and kicking with all the strength being a bird kid provided, to yelling for the rest of the Flock (who they could still hear) on Fang's part, and attempting to blow up and freeze the things and only succeeding in singeing her sleeves on Tally's part.

"Aim for the eyes! Aim for the eyes!" she heard Max bellow.

The twins made to follow Max's direction when they were yanked back, a blanket of darkness taking them.

-

The things that the Voice called "Goblins" pulled back. Way faster than we could run.

Iggy and I were about to launch ourselves into the air to go after them and get Fang and Talon when Angel yelled at us not to.

"I can't hear their thoughts anymore," she said, tears leaving sticky tracks down her cheeks. "They have to be _really_ far away for that."

I bit my lip, closing my eyes.

_She's right Max. The Goblins have taken them too far for you to catch up. _

I'm pretty sure my lip was curling in anger, _Oh really, Jeb? Then what do you expect us to do? Wait for them to escape by themselves?!_

_No. But allow yourselves time to think rationally. Just look at, Iggy; do you think he will be able to be your temporary second in command in the condition that he's in?_

I opened my eyes and saw Iggy practically seething, his wings twitching as if he would like no more than to chase down those things and rip all their heads off. Bombs optional.

I sighed, throwing some ice over my own anger. _Right then. Do you know where these things are going? Where they have taken Fang? And Tally? _

_Yes. West Virginia. They will be temporarily in the Facility. The one that Tally escaped from. From there they intend to take them to Spain in a cargo plane. _

And then the Voice, or Jeb, went silent. It was being straightforward…something completely new to me.

"All right then. They're heading to West Virginia. To the Facility. We have to get there fast 'cause they want to ship them off to Spain," I said. "Iggy, did Tally think anything helpful before she was captured?"

"How should I know?" he snapped, eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Iggy, answer the question," I said, coldness seeping into my voice. I needed Fang back just as much as he needed Talon. He didn't need to take out his pissy-ness on me.

"All she said was that she was scared and that she was hearing voices," he said slowly after taking a deep breath, falling into an Indian style sitting position.

"Right," I said slowly. "And yesterday, when she got mad," I think everyone winced at that one. We actually thought she was going crazy when she most likely _wasn't_. "What was she thinking guys?"

Nudge, Total and Gazzy looked a little lost in this as they shifted their packs. All the more power to them. They seemed a step closer to normal than the rest of us talking about what happened inside a fourteen year old bird girl hybrid's apparently completely sane thoughts.

"Nothing too important. Just that this woman was pointing her out in the street when there was no one," Iggy murmured, putting his head in his hands.

"And she kept feeling like she was being watched," Angel added, sniffing and rubbing a few of her tears away with the back of her hand. I pulled her to my side, hugging her. "All day long, yesterday, all night long, every minute she felt like she was being watched. It's why she thought she needed a distraction, to get her mind off of whoever was watching her."

I nodded, "All right then guys, it looks like we're heading to West Virginia to save Fang and Tally."

And with that, I jumped into the air. Not letting the younger kids see the anger flashing through my eyes. Not that they hadn't seen it happen before when I was kicking Eraser or Flyboy butt…but I didn't need to scare them anyways.

"This sucks," Iggy said quietly, glaring into thin air. "Can't even be pissed off properly unless we want to scare the kids."

I gritted my teeth. Did he just have to be mister The-world-is-out-to-get-me-and-only-me? If he pulled another stunt like he did in West Virginia I will not be held accountable for my violent impulses. "Suck it up, Iggy. I'm just as pissed off as you that they got kidnapped. Just want to snap all their heads off like Barbie dolls and throw them into a volcano somewhere in Hawaii."

Iggy shrugged, "We've been robbed. And whoever hurts them deserves to rot in hell."

I didn't even correct his churlish language, glancing back at the younger kids as they flew solemnly.

"Iggy, that's too kind," I said out of the corner of my mouth. "Maybe rip out their spines and make them tap dance with it like a marionette puppet?"

And thus began the silent volleying of ways that the whitecoats and whoever kidnapped Talon and Fang and the Goblins would rot.

-

Talon took a shuddering breath as her wings connected with metal, having been thrown into the back of a truck right after Fang.

She grimaced and rolled over, fully aware of the fact that she was bleeding.

"Ugh," Fang. That much was obvious since they were alone. Those things hadn't piled in after them.

She crawled over to her brother, wincing when the truck's movement caused her to drunkenly bang her wing against crates. And she made note to have a hair tie on her at all times after having it land in her mouth more than one time. She was starting to understand why Max insisted on chopping her hair off before it ever got passed her shoulders.

"Tally?" Fang said when he saw her crawling to him.

_I can't really answer, now can't I?_ she thought bitterly, pushing herself into a sitting position by him, practically leaning on each other.

Tally heaved a heavy sigh, pulling her knees up to her chest wondering what the flock were doing.

"Iggy's probably going to find a chain saw or something and make it even more destructive trying to look for you…" Fang murmured, shifting so his wings weren't bothered by their position.

Tally gave a dry chuckle and mimed her response, _And Max is most likely tearing his head off for even suggesting that and cheerfully knocking out whoever gets in her way to saving you. _

Why were they making light of a horrible situation? Because they were likely to be subjected to a bunch of evils no other kid would even have nightmares about. Why not try and get a few jokes out?

"So, I guess Iggy has to apologize to _you_ for calling you crazy?"

Tally tilted her head a bit, somewhat confused.

"You were right, anyways. Someone ended up kidnapping us. Whatever, better us than the younger kids or…" he trailed off darkly.

Talon frowned, forcing down the tears that stung her eyes and clamping her hand down on Fang's, curling up against her brother.

He stiffened at first, but gradually wrapped his arm around his sister's shoulders.

Anyways, Fang knew how Tally needed physical contact to assure her of things…the complete opposite of him in that way.

Fang squeezed her shoulder, looking up. She couldn't possibly blow the truck up to get them out. It would be like Iggy trying to blow a car up with his bombs, Fang guessed.

Not only would it blow up the truck. It would make Bird Kid Burnt To A Crisp.

And he wasn't in a hurry to figure out if burnt feathers smelled anything like burnt hair.

So he settled for giving Tally some comfort, and subconsciously drawing some from her too.

-

Angel and Gazzy had clung to me as soon as we settled down in a small forest for a quick nap, Nudge was at my feet, and Iggy was hunched over a bomb of sorts, muttering nonsense under his breath. And I was on first watch. Well…actually, the only watch. Since it was meant to be a nap, and I sure as heck wasn't going to let us oversleep like we did with the last rescue mission.

Meaning no rest for Maximum Ride—but really, when did I ever get to _rest_? Pssh, sleep? Relaxing? Those are myths. There is no such thing in my life. But maybe I should introduce you to my friend pain, suffer and evil? Yeah, those certainly _aren't_ myths. I'm sure that should be some sort of WAKE UP CALL for you normal people out there sipping some ritzy drink that has an umbrella in it.

And I will reiterate—those of you with the drinks are probably the same exact ones who start quibbling about ketchup on desert rat, or when I spare you the details of gutting thumper or whatever one of Bambi's friends we catch in a forest.

Anyways, it didn't really bother me. (Getting sleep, that is.) I was too wound up to care about something like sleep.

Me? Sleep while two from my flock are probably being tortured vigorously? Especially the stoic twins? Nope. You must be, as the British say it, barking mad.

If Talon got her name the way Fang did, then we could be sure that the whitecoats at the Facility would have bite marks and scratch marks all over the place.

And that thought made my lips twitch up a small bit.

"Max," Iggy called softly. "What's the plan for getting them?"

I frowned.

Usually I only discussed these things with Fang. Once in a blue moon with Tally (she was a _great_ listener, if you catch my drift) if it was girl stuff. And sometimes work some kinks out with Iggy back when Tally wasn't here.

But now he had been bestowed the temporary title of "second in command" since those flock members that were older than him but younger than me had just been _kidnapped…_(If that sentence made any sense grammatically.)

So, now it was my cue to quickly pull something out of my head, spew it out quickly and hope that it was a good plan. It was either going to be something idiotic and nonsensical, or something brilliant that—if he was here—would've had Fang wondering how the heck I "pull plans out of my (kindly insert swear word of choice here) like Gazzy does farts."

"Well, we fly in close and test out that whole, 'I can read Tally's mind' thing, and if that doesn't work, we'll have Angel search for their minds. If they are there. Then we can figure out a way to tell Tally and Fang exactly what to do."

"And if they're not there we go to Spain, got it," Iggy said, his unseeing eyes casted off to "stare" at the tree ten yards away with him while his hands did something complicated to the bomb.

Why am I not stopping him? Because he has a _bomb_ in his _hand_ and is very pissed off at the moment.

I'm pissed off too, but I find it better to stow away my anger for better use later, in battle. Let it stew for a while.

"Yeah, and if they can't follow our directions because they're…too drugged up, we'll just have to use a bomb or something," I mused, raptor vision locking on to the way his hands deftly handled the bomb (which looked suspiciously like it used to be a mobile phone).

-

Tally gritted her teeth as the last waves of pain crashed through her.

They had, during the course of the ride, gassed up the truck and knocked them out. She had been experimented on first with some weird olive colored liquid forced into her veins that turned the skin around the prick a bit dark.

Then they tossed her into the room and let her writhe. Apparently, the whitecoats wanted the Goblins to reboot or something and test she and Fang before they were shipped off to Seville, Spain.

And now, she covered her eyes as another body was thrown on her. She winced as the body rolled off her, twitching and squirming.

_Fang! _She thought, crawling towards him and putting her hand in his, flinching a bit at his vice grip.

Did she care? No. It was horrible to go through that pain alone.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

These people knew she could destroy things with a flick of her hand, so why hadn't they put a blind fold on her?

Because they had some sort of electric net they deactivated and activated as they saw fit.

The way Tally saw it (she winced when Fang wrapped his arms around her waist, barely allowing her to breathe any), they were royally screwed if the Flock didn't make it there in time.


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

* * *

"Right, grab them both, there due for a fight with the Mock Two Battle Goblins," a female Whitecoat said.

The Twins stiffened.

_Fight with the Goblins?... Dammit. _

Fang sparred a glance at Talon, watching her wince as she pushed herself to her feet, hate coursing through her eyes as her hands were in tight fists at her sides, the white, sharp knuckles of her small hands standing out.

_Crap. This is complete and total _shit, he thought, looking at the scientists with complete apathy. Of course, he was hiding the anger…

Before they knew it, they were being shoved around and some lights in the small cramped room they were in flickered on.

Wait! Since when was there an observational two way mirror there?!

Fang didn't have time to respond as a Goblin was pushed into the room, mouth stitched shut into a smile and looking at them wickedly from its laser like eyes.

Tally was about to launch herself at the thing when it took a swipe at her with it's long disturbing black claws, something green splatting right bellow her collar bone. She didn't bother to look down and instead focused on trying to tackle it, only phasing through it.

"Guh!" Fang.

She turned to look at him, seeing the Goblin's hand wrapped around his throat.

He was turning blue, trying to scratch and kick at the thing but his hands just kept slipping through.

"It seems like the new Ghost surgery has worked out brilliantly for the Goblins," female voice. Tally paid her no mind as she squished herself between the Goblin and Fang, closed her fist and smashed one of the goblins cybernetic eye.

If she had a voice, she would have given a triumphant "hurrah." If she had a voice, and if she were someone like, um, Nudge.

Anyways, it smashed into itty bitty pieces and red goo into her hand with a _SQUELCH_, dropping Fang.

It gave something like a roar, blindly reaching out and scratching up Talon and Fang further as they collapsed on the floor panting.

But Fang had no intention of being ripped to shreds by the wannabe-Boogie man in front him. Nope.

He jumped up and in a moment of the beast's pain induced rage, he smashed the other eye with his elbow.

Talon's dark gray eyes were wide as saucers as it dropped to the floor next to her, she scrambled away from it before giving it an experimental poke with her bare foot.

She wrinkled her nose up with disgust when red stuff started practically pouring out of the Goblin, _Oh, that's just _wonderful,_ ain't it? Makes a swarm of butterflies nest in my stomach._

"Bleh," Fang muttered, examining his red goo covered elbow.

* * *

We hovered around the Facility, staying far away enough that any possible cameras they had wouldn't catch us but close enough that our raptor vision could get the basic layout of the building.

"Angel, can you hear them?" I asked her, putting my hand on her shoulder.

Honestly, I felt sort of guilty of relying on the six year old, but it was necessary.

"Yeah," she said, peering through the brush with her wide eyes. Usually they were round and trusting, now had that vacant and evil gleam in them that signified that she was reading someone's mind.

"I think Tally's gone feral," Iggy said, in all seriousness, tilting his head to one side.

"What?" Nudge asked. "Aren't dogs the only ones that do that?"

"What do you mean Iggy?" I pressed for information. I mean, a bird girl could only get so many vague answers before she starts to go cuckoo.

"Well, her thoughts are really weird…at least what I'm getting," his brows furrowed, sightless eyes staring off. "But I only get snippets and they all sound weird. Like 'Get the hell away from him,' 'I'll claw your face off,' and things like that…just less complete."

* * *

Tally glared at the door as soon as they attempted to roll in the cages. Both she and Fang had gotten up and stopped writhing, both becoming incessantly pissed off when they started murmuring about shipping them off again.

_I swear to whoever will listen, I will rip off there arms with my bare hands if they try and put us in cages!_ Tally thought completely pissed off.

_Max says to try your power out when they take down the electric fence thing, Tally._

And said bird girl jumped about two feet in the air, causing Fang to look at her like she was crazy from his protective stance next to her.

_Angel?!_

_Yes?_

Tally blinked (why hadn't she thought of that? Because she didn't do well in these types of situations. The smart part of her mind usually shut down and let her more idiotic side out), then turned to the door. _Got it. _

The dark haired girl moved in front of her brother and surreptitiously put her hands out in a "surrendering" gesture with her palms facing the door.

"_What are you doing?!_" Fang hissed in her ear.

She smirked and glared at the Whitecoats as they seemed to hesitate.

Oh yes, she could remember a day just like this one. Like, nearly a decade ago.

She had just discovered her nice little power, had been practicing it, and there was her first escape attempt. She smiled at the Whitecoats wickedly before blowing up the walls and stuff and running. But it ended badly, after all, a kid that young can't get out of an evil place like the school _that_ easily.

The electric fence thingy went down with a shimmer and a white coat entered.

And Tally flicked her wrists, grinning when the Whitecoats froze. Literally _froze_.

She glanced back at Fang, raising an eyebrow in a sign of, _Do you get it _now?

* * *

"They're out of there holding room!" Angel said, taking a little three foot hop in the air, her face lighting up.

And cheers broke out amongst the little ones.

But Fang and Talon weren't out yet. They still had to evade all those Goblins and then get air borne, we had to make sure they weren't too drugged up, and then we could all get pissed at the Whitecoats together…

* * *

Fang and Tally ran as fast as they could, turning this way and that, hoping they were heading the right way and not actually just leading themselves into a trap. They just had to trust that nifty internal compass that was programmed into them to not lead them into the snake's pit.

"Keep running!" Fang said when they saw two Goblins haunting the hallway they had turned into, a small window that lead to—wait! Yes! It was the outdoors!

"Follow my lead!" her brother said, throwing himself on his knees, sliding and fading straight through the Goblins, she smirked and copied his move.

_Bet he got that one out of some music video on the internet or something…_she thought, jumping back to her feet and running through the door that her brother had just exited.

But then they saw a whole courtyard filled with Goblins.

Talon frowned, _Ah jeez. Bad flashback to when I had to get out of this place the _first_ time!_ _Scrubs and all!_

She started running full tilt, cursing the electric barrier they had over them.

Another little thing that she had discovered. One of the more idiotic experiments had been duking it out with her in the courtyard, made a jump for freedom (weird rabbit-human hybrid) and got completely charred by the three thousand volts.

She muttered soundless curses under her breath as the flashing red lights and the sirens began wailing, causing her to trip over thin air, scrape the palm of her hands.

She pushed herself back up, setting her eyes back on the trees, ignoring the Goblins as the reached out to grab them and only succeeded in scraping her side. At least they couldn't bite like Erasers.

But then her eyes widened as everything went dark.

No! No! No! She hadn't done this in the longest!

She kept on pushing forward, this time relying completely on the sound of Fang's feet, reaching out with her hand for the blind fold on her face. _You have got to be _freaking_ kidding me! How did they manage to put it on me while I was freaking running?!_

She shook it off her head once her hand came upon the metal lock.

Fang looked back at his sister and saw the stupid two way mirrors back on her face. How fast were those things that they could both _keep up_ with them and put those on her?!

He reached back and grabbed her wrist, adrenaline flooding his veins as their feet slapped onto the pavement that quickly became grass.

Tally brushed her hand out against a tree, then turned and touched another and something occurred to her.

She started running in a certain direction, ignoring her protesting legs and shaking her wings out. _Exactly like last time. _

She took a deep breath, jumping up into the air, flapping her wings. God forbid that the Goblins would be able to _fly_ as well. Then that would be just a tad bit _too_ eerie and then _she_ would gladly volunteer to go to the nearest loony bin in a wedding dress.

Fang glanced back down at the ground where the Goblins were looking up at them hopelessly.

"Fang! Tally! Over here!"

Tally worked her way through the lock on her blindfold, profane words flitting through her head before she flew in the direction of the voices.

"Tally!"

She stilled.

Giving Tally her voice back wouldn't have made her happier in that single moment. She beamed in the direction of the voice and smothered the urge to do a flying tackle and completely doom them to a splatter art-y death. _Iggy! Oh my god Iggy! I can't believe it! I'd hug you but then we'd go spiraling down to our deaths and that wouldn't be completely good seeing as Fang and I just got out from nearly being sent to freaking Spain, but oh my God! Have I said that I'm so happy to see you? Well, not see you per sé¸ since I have the most idiot invention of a blindfold on and need to take it off before I can actually see you and—!_

"Holy crap that's one heck of a Nudge Channel you pulled there, Tally," he said. She could only imagine all the sarcastic faces he was making. His wing brushed against hers and she thought that her smile muscles would break from her grin.

_Let's find somewhere _safe_ then, and I will gladly hug, and tackle you and the rest of the flock but more importantly so that I can take these demonic contraption of a blindfold off my face already!_

* * *

We checked into a hotel. Something that was starting to become far too common for my liking but still….

At least they had a medical kit that we could use to stitch up Talon and Fang.

Tally was currently very cozy by Iggy, her hand in a vice grip on his, and staring at Nudge with her mouth curling a bit into a smile, nodding attentively.

Talon had a big yellow bruise on one side of her face, and six scratches on her chest, just a bit above her…uh, bra. And it looked pretty nasty, with green staining the skin around it. She had a few stitches around her throat, a black eye and a ton of scratch marks running down her legs and her palms were scraped.

Then I turned to Fang, who was petting Angel's hair as they watched some show, something called Charmed.

He had scratched going horizontally on his cheek, with the usual bruises that were yellowing and scratched and the same green tint around the claw marks. And he had a pretty big chunk of skin missing on his upper thigh…like it was ripped off. Not counting the blood they had washed off, and the ripped up Facility scrubs they had asked Iggy and Gazzy to use as bomb materials.

They basically looked like crap.

But of course, Iggy and I had patched them up, while Gazzy, Nudge, Angel and Total had a commentary running in a background, asking a million and one questions that were all synonymous to: _Are you _sure_ you're all right?!_

I bit my lip before reaching my hand out and placing it on top of Fang's.

Angel turned to me and beamed, while he gave me a small twitch of his mouth. (Fang's version of grinning like an idiot…)

Everything was great.

"Hey Max! I'm hungry! Can we order some room service? I'm sure Tally and Fang are starving too!" Three guesses to who it is.

"Yeah, Max! I'm hungry too!" And that was certainly not Tally and Fang agreeing. It was the Gasman, if you couldn't tell, siding with Nudge.

I raised and eyebrow and spared a glance at Tally and Fang, seeing him looking away with his hair covering his eyes and her hiding her face in Iggy's shoulder.

See, they couldn't have been more obvious that they were hungry if their—

_GROWL! _

I take that back. Their stomachs were even _more_ obvious.

"All righty then, room service it is," I said, reaching over for the phone.

Our lives could _not_ get any weirder.


	26. Chapter 25

A/N: All right, before all of my luverly and faithful readers go on to read this, I wanted to say that I made a Max-Ride/HP crossover. It's called Maximum Ride: Wings Vs Wands and I know that I sound like a review hoe when I say this, but I just wanted to let you guys know. Oh! And more great news? Tally was nominated multiple times for the Maximum Ride Fanfiction Awards 2 by Myrah. That one made my day, multiple times, and all the love you guys show in reviews. And how you seem to want to strangulate me when I don't update soon enough, lol. :D Just had some weird brownie-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-vanialla-chocolate-icecream hybrid…like half the container, (thank god I have a zippy Max-like metabolism- height and all…minus wings) so I'm hyper enough to write now!

**Now, without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

Chapter 25

Talon and Fang sat side by side out of the sudden protectiveness from each other that had sprouted at the Facility, her chugging down a big bottle of water and him going through his second plate of French fries.

The bruises and all the bandages were annoying them, but they remained silent, focusing on their stomachs and giving them the fuel they needed for whatever Max threw at them. Whether it was to go to the grocery store, pick pocket someone or go across the whole country without killing members of the flock…

For entertainment purposes of course.

Finally, after stuffing her face for what seemed like an eternity, she stopped eating. Honestly, if she ate any more, she felt she would burst like a piñata if anyone attempted to hit her.

And that said a lot about how much food they ordered.

-

Angel, Gazzy and Nudge started nodding off and that was when I made an executive decision and sent them to bed.

_Talk to Talon and Fang, _the Voice popped in.

_Why?_

_To gather information. Something that happened might help you saving the world._

I mentally rolled my eyes, _At least it ain't some fortune cookie crap or "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" _

_Everything in good time, Maximum._

Tally snickered at them when they started yawning but quickly stopped when she saw the significant look I was giving her.

Fang, of course, understood it to mean "We need to talk" but I don't know if Talon got the message.

Her fogged up gray eyes met mine before she sighed.

Great, apparently she got the message. And was dreading it.

As soon as I was sure that the younger kids were under the Sand man's spell, I rounded on them.

"What happened there?" I asked bluntly. Why bead around the bush? Better to be direct, less chances of Tally going off on a mental tangent from what Angel and Iggy tell me.

Tally cocked an eyebrow at me. Obviously, she was admiring my careful tact and delicacy with the situation.

But it was also Tally speak for "What the hell?"

"The Voice. It says something that happened there could help us, or something nonsensical like that," I said.

Fang looked at me, a dark shadow going over his eyes as he seemed to try and figure out if I was telling the truth or not. I met his eyes and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

I wasn't lying. I wasn't being nosy and trying to pry. I knew what it was like to want to bury your pain and forget it ever happened, and not want to let anyone know what happened unless it was really important to the mission.

And this was way uber-important according to the Voice.

Tally frowned and drew random doodles on Iggy's hand, probably playing Connect-the-freckle or something.

Ugh, I think I would start choking from all the tension if someone didn't talk.

I glared at Fang, and his lip twitched down just a tad.

"We fought Goblins," he finally said softly, tone apathetic to the untrained ear. "Always one on one."

I nodded gravely.

"Tally says they injected them with something…multiple times…"

My head swiveled over to them, eyes zeroing in on them as soon as Iggy filled us in.

Talon shrinked into Iggy's side a bit, her bangs obscuring my view of her eyes.

"Yeah, that thing freaking stung…" Fang murmured, the knuckles of his fisted hand very visible.

"She says it's like acid eating away at them from the inside out…but she doesn't know what it could have been for…"

"Anything else?" I asked when things were silent for about five minutes straight.

Tally made to shake her head but then she froze, her eyes widening. She began making wild hand movements, nodding enthusiastically, trying to convey something to us. But she just looked like a monkey with fire ants in its pants doing the weird little jig. Can we say anxious?

I think I was witnessing one of Tally's famous mental rambles because Iggy had to shake her shoulder to get her to calm down some and think rationally.

After a few seconds, Iggy finally told us what she thought.

"She says they performed the Ghost experiment on the Goblins. It's why they were transparent!" Iggy's eyes widened and a grin came onto his features before it quickly fell off and he smacked his forehead. "Oh great! Just great! More invincible-ish tyrants after our asses!"

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, waving my hands in front of me. "Isn't the Ghost experiment why they gave you your last name, Talon?"

Her mouth curled down, and she nodded grimly, curling the one streak of leftover white in her hair around her finger.

"So they succeeded, without the freaky white hair and eyes things as after effects—no offense, Tal," Fang said. She shrugged at him, going back to staring at her and Iggy's hand with odd stalker-like fixation. "Only way we killed 'em was smashin' their eyes."

Tally nodded, grimacing.

"So that might be what the Voice was talking about, how to defeat the Goblins, or at least evade them," I said. Yeah, but the Voice had informed us of their nifty eye soft spot when Fang and Tally were being kidnapped…but the Ghost project was a nice tid bit.

"Right then, I think we should get some Zs then, before we end up looking like raccoons," I muttered, heading over to the fold out couch. The thing that Fang and I were sharing and he had named _A Claustrophobic's Nightmare_ followed by _Gonna fold up and smash us into a Max and Fang turkey sandwich. _

I, of course, being the wonder girlfriend I am, rolled my eyes and smacked his arm for being so melodramatic. (On the inside thought, I was doing pirouettes, and happy dances cause everything was finally normal…ish.)

Tally and Iggy yawned and picked themselves up off the floor, and headed over to the recliner in the room.

Talon didn't sit down next to him like I expected, instead, she sat on the floor by his legs and looked straight at the windows as if she could see through the curtains.

_Watched. She had thought that she was being watched._

I chanced a glance at Fang only to see him on his side, using the crook of his elbow as a pillow, staring at the curtains as well.

They either felt the curtains were about to jump up and viciously duel them, or they were feeling that all too common sprit of paranoia that comes after being kidnapped or suddenly ripped out of a bad situation and dropped back into normalcy.

"The curtains aren't going to bite," I muttered, settling on my stomach and reaching up to poke Fang's shoulder.

He tensed a bit before giving a sharp nod.

"Tally's asking if you guys want to sleep with the light's on," Iggy murmured, wrinkling his nose up as he touched the couch, probably feeling its ugly brown color. "Both of you."

I rolled my eyes but waited for Fang's response nonetheless.

"Don't care," he muttered.

"Light's off it is then," I said quietly, getting up and walking over to the light switch.

I glared at the little thing for making my get up and reached out to press it when it just switched off on its own…. I blinked then shook my head. Must've been the friggin' way that this stupid day seemed to drag on in suspense and never die down.

What were we? Characters in a god darned action explosion-y Jerry Bruckheimer movie?

-

I woke in the morning to the sun searing my eyelids.

Whoever decided to make the hotel room window face the east should be shot or arrested or _something_.

Then again, that's why there were thick heavy _curtains. _

But chances were that either Tally, or Fang for that matter, got up in the middle of the night to stare outside and do some scans of the terrains.

Speaking of the stoic twins, Fang had turned in the middle of the night and was now facing me, looking relaxed (I think my brain turned to goo at that…and I'm not too fond of my brain turning to goo. That usually only happened when he kissed me…actually, then it would just short out).

Iggy had migrated (Geddit? Migrate? We're bird k—oh, never mind.) from his comfy position on the reclining chair to leaning against it like Tally, her head on his shoulder and his strawberry blonde head on hers.

Which struck me as really almost like a weird yin yang sign when I looked at them…

_Like Fang and you, Maximum, _the Voice interjected my wonderful observations.

_Ugh, it's too early for you to be giving me counseling on my feelings, oh Voice Who Does Not Know When To Shut Up._

And then it went silent.

It decided to interrupt my peaceful morning for something as completely and totally stupid as that?!

I stretched my arms in front of me, mumbling lots of swear under my breath aimed at the Voice, or Jeb, or whoever the heck it was today. (The Voice seemed to be having Dissociative Personality Disorder lately. Lucky me! I get to witness it!)

"Your up."

And I jumped at least a foot in the air from that.

"Darn it, Fang! One of these days I will get a heart attack from that and I will _not get back up from it!_" I hissed, hand over said frantic organ that seemingly wanted to jump out and do a cha-cha or some salsa.

He just smirked at me, opening his mouth but I stopped him. (Minds, please make your way _out of the gutter_!!!)

"And if you say 'Stop what? Breathing?' I will _kill you!_ Get some new comebacks!"

He chuckled, which is Fang speak for laughing his butt off. "My comebacks are fine, Max. Just a bit rusty."

"Dear God! Gazzy!" Nudge screamed, scrambling away from the bed across from Gazzy and Angel shared. "That's so nasty and not a good way to wake up in the morning! _Ewwwww!_"

And like clockwork, the rest of the flock jumped away from Gazzy and ran to the farthest corners. For me, that ended up trying to jump out the window but _Fang was in the freaking way!_

"Gasmask!" Iggy choked. Talon was coughing by his side, pinching her nose.

The Gasman had muttered sorry but was now cackling.

Angel! Where's Angel?!

Oh please don't let her still be in that same bed with Gazzy!

And then the door opened, and Angel walked in, laughing at something Total had said.

The air must've cleared because she looked up innocently and said, "Morning."

Yeah, what a _great_ way to start the morning. With Eau de Gazzy burning out sinuses.

-

Tally leaned against the wall with her brother warily, feeling a bit…off.

She zipped up her jacket and ran a hand through her messy hair.

She could just hold it all down. Maybe it was just a passing thing?

It wasn't life threatening as far as she could tell, and she didn't want to burden the flock after they helped them escape.

Her hand bumped against her twin's and her eyes snapped up when she felt how clammy it was.

She discreetly felt her neck for a temperature than compared it to Fang's. Of course, he didn't miss any of it.

"Don't tell," he murmured, looking at her with equally tired dark brown nearly black eyes.

She nodded and pushed herself off the wall when Max came back from checking out, feeling an exhaustion that went down to her bones.

They could handle it.

They didn't need to cause any more trouble.

-

How did we end up in Arizona?

After a ton of flying and complaints of being hungry from Nudge, Total and the Gasman, some smart aleck retorts from Iggy, and Tally and Fang being at the back of the Flock, flying silently. Angel flew by my side, talking to Total every once in a while.

We had set up camp and were now all roasting some sort of thing over a fire.

Iggy and Tally had gone off somewhere, to do God knows what. ("Use protection!"Total had hollered. "We don't need baby bird children running around anytime soon!") And I really didn't want to know.

The little kids were playing hangman in the dirt, violence breaking out occasionally since no one could spell their way out of a McDonald's bag.

Which left Fang and I at the edge of the clearing talking lowly about random stuff.

Something that I loved about "being with" Fang? Nothing honestly changed.

We still were best friends.

Except now there was kissing.

Kissing where my mind stopped cooperating and the lonely brain cells in my head lost some comrades.

But something was off about Fang today…and yesterday.

I reached my hand out to grab his only to snatch it back. "You're freaking hot!"

He blinked at me, amused. "Thank you."

I rolled my eyes and felt his forehead, "No! I mean you are hot! Body temperature, wise ass!"

"Max! We have a problem!" Iggy's voice rang out through the clearing.

Both he and a figure appeared at the edge, sinking out of the shadows.

Talon was slouched over holding her stomach. Her eyes widened and she scrambled and nearly leapt into a bush, unpleasant sounds of upchucking coming from her.

Iggy held her hair back with one hand and the other was on her back, rubbing it.

A second later, Fang huddled up into himself discreetly, teeth almost chattering.

Well, obviously, _some people_ were hiding stuff about how well they were.


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

How did we manage to get Fang and Tally all the way to my mom's house?

Well, it wasn't without plenty of cursing and sweat.

See, Fang and Tally could fly, yes, but a dizzy spell would hit them and they'd go plummeting, they clearly had headaches and were glaring at the sun every once in a while.

And no, they didn't tell me.

I had Angel picking at their minds and had an Eagle eye on them.

Thank god we were already in Arizona or else we would've never made it to my mom's house without casualties.

I didn't have time to call in advanced, so for the second time in, like, a _month_ we stopped by my mom's house with messed up flock members.

She had looked so startled when we appeared at her door, she was in her whitecoat, locking the front door but immediately urged us inside when she saw Fang's arm around my shoulder and mine around his waist to keep him up and Tally practically limp in Iggy's arms.

Mom went into extreme bird-kid-doctor mode and turned one of the guest bedrooms into something like a mini ER, only more homey and less antiseptic-y.

"What happened?" she asked, once she had the stoic twins on the bed with a wet cloth on their foreheads.

"I don't know. Fang just went all feverish on me," I muttered and aimed a weak glare at him. "They didn't tell me they were sick."

"And I was talking with Tally when she just doubled over and started upchucking. I should've known something was wrong when she purposely avoided me touching her," Iggy answered, bitterly.

Ella walked in with a six pack of Gatorade and a box of saltines.

"Well," she said, sticking a thermometer in Fang's mouth despite the weak glare and swatting of his hand. "It seems like they have symptoms similar to the flu."

I cocked an eyebrow. "The flu? That's impossible."

"We 'on't ge' sih','" Fang mumbled around the thermometer, Mom's glare not effecting him in the slightest.

"Yeah, we have a higher immune system, able to survive the apocalypse and all that jazz," Iggy said nonchalantly, 'staring' fixedly on the spot where Talon was laying.

"Well, they are exhibiting a majority of the symptoms; high fever, vomiting, headache, chills and from what you told me of their flying, extreme tiredness as well…" she kept on.

_Check their wounds, Maximum._

I nearly jumped at the Voice, _Hello, One Who Does Not Shut Up, why should we check their wounds?_

I swear it sighed. _The Injections and the Goblin Poison_, it answered simply.

Swearing under my breath, I cursed softly, "Mom, check their bandages. The Voice says something might be wrong with the wounds."

Mom nodded and unwrapped one of the smaller bandages around Fang's arms, removing the gauze very carefully while the Flock and Ella waited with bated breath.

"Oh, my," Mom muttered, starring at the cut. I peeked around her shoulder and grimaced.

It was bleeding. The Gauze was soaked through and the green tinting had spread some.

Honestly? The wound looked like a bloody uncooked steak with pus and green stuff the consistency of shampoo around the edges. "That's nasty."

Fang, getting overly curious, looked at his arm, his eyes widening just a bit in alarm (his version of "HOLY CRAP!") and said, "Ewww…"

On his other side, Talon rolled onto her side, curling in on herself, pulling her wings tight against her back.

"Ella, bring me the antiseptic, and then please go call Jeb," Mom ordered, already working on disposing of the gauze.

"Gazzy, Angel, Nudge, Total, _out_," I commanded, pointing at the door. "Go watch TV or something."

Yeah, they didn't need to see a mini surgery going on.

"I knew I should have chucked a bomb at that place while we were in range," Iggy muttered foully, striding to Tally's side of the bed and plopping down on the carpet by her.

"Our best bet would be to treat it like the flu until Jeb gets here," mumbled protests from Fang and Talon weakly shook her head 'no.'

My anger flared. "Look, guys, I don't like the idea of Jeb anywhere near us, heck, I don't want him in the same _state_ as us. But you _will_ cooperate, you _will_ do what he says, and you will _not _complain unless you want me hauling you both off to the hospital," I snarled.

Fang very visibly rolled his eyes, and I didn't hear anything on Tally's part, she was probably conked out.

* * *

Update on Tally and Fang? They were still bleeding a mess.

And still feverish as hell.

Not to mention I was about to pull my hair out from worry of luring the Goblins to my mom's place.

Tally and Fang were cooped up in that room. Quarantined from the rest of us incase whatever they had was infectious.

Which we all highly doubted.

And Jeb was due to come today, so we were all in _high spirits._ (Note the sarcasm.)

Right well, the younger kids were watching Howl's Moving Castle. Iggy was religiously hunched over what I suspected was his unused cell phone bomb (Why am I not taking it away? Because it's dangerous to take those types of things from Iggy while he's working on it. They either might blow up or Iggy's infamously short fuse makes an appearance), Mom and Ella were cooking not too far from him.

I sighed for what was probably the nth time that day.

Waiting sucks, as I have mentioned before. I can't go into Zen mode because I got so much on my mind and the basic worries…

But I can't zone out and think without having someone ask why the heck I'm being such a space cadet.

Ugh…there are always things plaguing my mind, as if being on the run and a mutant alone wasn't enough.

List of Max's Worries?

1) Fang

2) Talon

3) Fang

4) Were Goblins going to attack her mom's house like the Military safehouse?

5) Fang

6) The basic food, shelter and health one that applied to the rest of the flock

7) Fang

8) Fang

9) Fang

All right, so maybe of few of them repeated, and I know a bunch of you are yelling at me for having my…boyfriend (Is that what he is to me? We've never really talked about it and I haven't gotten around to cornering Tally to have a girl-to-girl talk about it. Ironic, older girl asking younger girl about how to figure things out with said younger girl's twin brother. If that wasn't completely weird than my name is Janet Jackson.) at the top of the list when clearly numero four-o belongs at the top.

But their health counts too!

I mean, two of my flock could potentially be teetering on the brink between life and death while we sat around baking cookies and watching movies.

And don't accuse me of being melodramatic! Sadly, in our lives, 'teetering between life and death' is something that we actually have to worry about! And most of us aren't even teenagers.

I muttered a few choice words under my breath, before making to get up.

"Door!" Gazzy called, then a muffled thump afterwards, probably fighting for the remote or something.

Mom walked to the door as Iggy stowed away the bomb and twiddled his thumbs.

Daddy dearest was home.

* * *

_Tally took a shuddering breath, looking blearily at the whitecoats as they bustled around the clear tank that she had been shoved into sometime during the night. _

_She felt completely disgusting, her long hair floating around her in the weightless surroundings, an oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose, connected to a tube that ran along the glass and exited to connect with a big oxygen module on the outside, controlled with an off and on switch. _

_The day before, she had been battered and tossed back into her dog crate after fighting tooth and nail with the Goblins, and today, the whitecoats bustled around the room, brandishing lime green liquids and talking excitedly to each other, looking at her with awe, like a shiny new toy. _

_But she wasn't a toy. _

_Oh, how she wished she could just accelerate the molecules in the glass and break out of the tank, spread her numb wings and finally escape her own personal hell. _

_But no, they had put up an type of fence or shimmering blue shield around everywhere, and if she tried her powers, or just plain attempted to punch it, she would fall to the ground in a fit, like a seizure. _

_A whitecoat stepped up to her tank and she followed him with tired dark gray eyes, watching him push a button and numbly registering as the tank drained._

_As the oxygen mask was snapped away from her and she started panicking, grabbing her ruined throat and writhing, collapsing on her knees and gasping as the liquid completely drained._

They wanted to weaken me,_ she thought wearily as the glass tank's door was open, pulling her out and strapping her down to a table, a leather belt type thing on her forehead pulled tight. _

_She went to swat the whitecoats away but found her hands felt as if they were made of pure lead._

_And she started panicking, adrenaline bringing her new found strength as a white coat approached her with an obscenely large syringe, at least an inch in diameter, with a lime green serum in it. _

_She stared terrified as the syringe was placed above a little opening in the forehead strap…_

…_and then rammed straight into her head._

_The fire began immediately. _

_She writhed, and thrashed, acid burning her insides, opening her mouth in a silent scream as more acid was poured into her, this time in her heart._

_Talon was blinded with pain and didn't notice the trip back to the room she and Fang were in, as she was thrown in barely hearing Fang's angry yells asking what the hell they had down to her and fighting tooth and nail as they hauled him out. _

_For the same treatment._

_For the same serum they would tell the flock about in later days. _

_

* * *

_

Tally's eyes opened and she grimaced as she saw Jeb's face hovering over her body, checking her wounds and all.

_I have half a mind to ram my knee into your skull,_ she thought, anger still pulsing through her after the nightmare. The memory.

"Tally, no," Iggy said, reaching to take her hand. "He's trying to help you guys."

Her eyes flickered to his ice blue ones, taking a deep rattling breath. _You shouldn't be in here. Max or you, we don't know if what we have is contagious…_ she prattled off Dr. Martinez's excuse.

He rolled his sightless eyes, "Jeb says the chances of that are slim."

Fang watched the exchange quietly, rubbing his forehead absentmindedly over one particular spot.

"This is odd," Jeb said, closing the leather briefcase he had brought with him and taking his latex gloves off.

"What is it, Jeb?" Max asked tersely.

Jeb found himself being scrutinized by all the rooms habitants, both mutant and the non-hybrid eyes of Dr. Martinez.

He sighed, pulling himself up to his full height. "Your descriptions of being injected with poisons and given antidotes are eerily similar to what the School and Institute for Higher Living would do right before they tried a long term experiment. A chemical experiment or surgery."

Talon and Iggy tensed.

Fang and Max didn't let that go unnoticed, guessing that the two were remembering the surgeries that left them broken.

"But this serum that you spoke of, sounds like an improved version of the one they used roughly eight months ago," Jeb continued, paying no mind to the little reactions of his audience. "But that project was deemed a failure after it escaped. Talon would know that, correct?"

Fang's sister tensed, nodding stiffly.

"You mean to tell me that this is like the Ghost thing they tried out on Tally? And the thing they did to the Goblins?" Max asked, crossing her arms and aiming a round of dagger glances at Jeb.

"Yes, in a way," he affirmed, pride in his eyes. "See, Talon and Fang were created for stealth. Hence their quiet natures and light foot steps, right down to their personalities. Meant to be spies. So, the GH05T experiment was tested on Talon, meant to make her transparent and able to faze through objects."

"But they screwed up," Fang provided softly. "They just bleached her."

Jeb bobbed his head, "Yes. They just succeeded in temporarily 'bleaching' her. However, as you have seen with the Goblins, they succeeded the second time with the experiment. And the serum that they injected into you sounds like the same on…"

"The same one they used on the Goblins, right?" Iggy said darkly.

Jeb nodded grimly, "Yes. However, according to the files I have recently acquired, it seems that this serum works differently. That is all it says. The green tinting around the wounds are what the Goblin's claws are covered in, less potent versions of the serum."

Fang and Tally took it all in, the gears in their heads almost visibly turning.

"However, the latest version of the serum has never been tested on Avian-Hybrids. So, are most likely the adverse effects; influenza like symptoms arising."

_But are we going the question is whether or not we are going to become transparent like the Goblins and are we are going to _survive_ this? Last time I checked, the GH05T experiment they did on me didn't involve this much pain, and the others in my holding cell just died off from it. It can be completely different this time_, she thought critically.

Iggy voiced her thoughts.

"Yes, but those are questions more suited to be answered by time," Jeb said ominously, rolling his sleeves back down

* * *


	28. Chapter 27

**A/N: Yo! Guys! Review! Am I gonna have to pitch a fit or set a review goal before I post the next chapter or something? REVIEW! Lotsa juicy stuff in this one (minds out of the gutter!!!) so review or you will be stuck with a story that ends right HERE!**

Chapter 27

-

_Hmmm, I smell bacon…Anyone want to tell me why I smell bacon? Huh? No answers? Fine then, I'll investigate myself, _Tally thought, being dragged from her nightmares by the holy and completely godsend smell of breakfast foods.

She dragged herself out of the bed she and Fang had been confined to for awhile, frowning at the ache in her bones.

Talon walked out of the room with pure will power alone…and the fact that there was going to be _real food_ at the end, and not the crap Gatorade and Saltines that Dr. M was stuffing down their throats when she thought that they had the flu.

She trudged into the kitchen, expecting to see Dr. M cooking but found Iggy in a loose white shirt and some flannel pajama pants, barefoot, and cooking the heavenly foods.

She padded over to him silently, watching as his hand extended to pick up a salt shaker for the eggs.

Her hand shot out and handed it to him, _There ya go_.

He grinned at her, flashing his white teeth.

Of course she was aware that he knew she had entered the room. Or that she had left the guest room in lieu of figuring out who was cooking, him being a Walking Security Alarm for the flock and all. He just _knew_ where she was nearly at all times…plus the whole he could hear most of her thoughts thing.

"Feel better today?" he asked, picking up a frying pan and sliding thick slices of heaven-on-earth onto a plate, than plopping some raw slices on the pan with a nice sizzle.

_Kinda,_ she thought, leaning against the counter, her shoulder brushing against his arm.

"Care to give some details?" he asked dryly, stopping in his cooking and half turning to her.

She sighed, holding her hand out in the air watching it shake before she crossed them again. _I feel like lead…and have the shakes. _

Iggy frowned.

_Here, let me do that,_ she thought when he started trying to juggle the cooking the contents in all four frying pans.

She quietly set to work on moving the hash browns around with a spatula, making sure they didn't get burned. Of course, she smiled when he mumbled about his plans on his next bomb, or when he purposely bumped her.

They worked through all the food they had set out, Tally thanking the fact that she was left handed or else they wouldn't have been able to work so closely.

"Mmm, I smell bacon…" Gazzy mumbled, stumbling into the room and rubbing his eyes.

"Yes, you do. Go wake up the rest of the Flock, will ya?" Iggy said as they piled the last of the pans into the dishwasher.

Gazzy nodded, bumping into the table before he went out to wake the rest of the houses tenants.

Tally gave a small jump when she felt two arms wrap around her waist.

Iggy settled his chin on her shoulder, "You're jumpy this morning."

She resisted the urge to squirm, his breath tickling her neck, but put her hands on his anyways. _Whatever you say, Iggy. _

"Oh, God, guys! It's too early to see that!" Max exclaimed, theatrically covering her eyes.

"What?! What?! What are they doing?" Ella asked as she bounced into the room, more of a morning person than anyone Talon knew.

Of course, Iggy and Tally had frozen as soon as Max came in, but now they looked in her direction, the taller of the two smiling evilly, while the other just wiped her face of emotion and leaned into Iggy, exhaustion taking hold of her again.

"Aww! You guys look so cute!" Ella said, sitting down at the table as a drowsy Nudge trudged into the kitchen. Gazzy and Angel pushing her shoulders to get her in the room.

"Max, get Fang," Iggy ordered, pulling Tally over to the table with him.

"Who died and made _you_ leader, Iggy?" she asked sarcastically, but walked out of the room anyways.

-

I stepped into the light blue room, noticing right away the big lump on the bed.

Quietly, I walked to Fang's side, wincing when I heard the rattling of his breathing, like he had inhaled smoke or something.

Taking a deep breath, I shook his shoulder. "Fang, get up. Breakfast is ready."

He didn't move for a moment and fear took hold on my heart before his eyes snapped open, looking at me vacantly. At least until he realized what I had said.

"Right, breakfast, is Tal up?" he mumbled hoarsely, pushing himself up on shaky arms.

Okay, he's shaking. Chances are his twin is too and barely managed to get out of bed. She must've had a lot of stamina to get out of bed if she was as tired as Fang was. I pushed him down gently, pressing my lips against his forehead, "Forget it. I'll bring your food and Tally up."

I jogged back into the kitchen, glad to see that no one had started eating, but Tally was almost being held up by Iggy.

"Right, Fang doesn't look too good and neither does Tally for that matter, so we're going to eat up in their room. That all right with you mom?" Tally glared at me feebly while mom seemed to contemplate it, crumbling under both Angel and Nudge's Bambi eyes.

The way to guarantee a yes from my mom?

Roping the flock into looking to her anxiously, with expectant happy looks.

Mom sighed, "Sure. I'll take the bacon. I don't trust you guys to not inhale it on the way there."

I flashed her a grin, then turned to the only other female teenage flock member, "Tally, you go up first, we'll follow with the food."

She slid out of Iggy's grip and slinked out of the room, looking hilariously tiny in the giant black T-shirt she had stolen from Fang's backpack awhile ago, and light purple silk pajama pants Ella had lent her.

She slowly made her way to the room, occasionally looking back at us with her pale and drawn face.

Tally opened the door to the room and left it wide open. When we entered the guest bedroom, she was on the bed, Indian style, poking Fang in the side as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Tally, quit it, I'm up already," he mumbled, swatting at her hand.

Her lips twitched up some and she patted his shoulder to get his attention again. When his eyes were focused on her again, she pointed to her nose and took a deep breath, half smiling.

We all trooped into the room by then, setting the plates on the carpet and taking seats all over the room. Mom opted for a chair by the little desk, reaching over to turn on the little TV, Iggy and I took seats on the bed, Angel wiggling her way between Fang and me, while Nudge, Gazzy and Ella pulled in chairs from different rooms to huddle around the bed. Total was complaining about being on the floor but the twins drew the line there and refused to get dog hair and who-knows-what on the bed. (Jeb had left almost as soon as he came, much to our relief)

Tally snatched a piece of bacon from a plate and wriggled it in front of Fang. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

She frowned.

Was I missing something? Some sort of twin telepathy that just makes everyone wonder what the hell the stoics were "talking" about? Sure, I could have a "whole conversation" with Fang silently, but I felt locked out of it right now.

Talon grabbed a plate, stocked it up with enough food to make a mini-mountain and then plopped it in front of Fang, motioning to the food with clipped movements.

Fang still shook his head some, flinching away from the mountain of bacon, eggs, hash browns, sausages and toast that his sister had gotten for him.

She scowled and got a fork, spooned some eggs on it and put it _really_ near his mouth.

He scowled in return, shaking his head again.

Oh! Now I got it!

Tally was doing the whole _I'm your sister, I know what you need_ thing on him, and trying to tell him to eat so he could get better.

But Fang was being just as stubborn as her and saying no.

"Fang, _eat_," I ordered.

He glanced at me, cocking an eyebrow, as if to say _Now you too?_

"You _need_ to eat. You can't survive on Gatorade and crackers alone."

He eyed the food with distaste, then his sister who was in front him, determination causing a spark in her eyes.

Fang sighed and took the fork from her, putting it on the plate. "I'll _try_ eating if you do too, Tal."

A tortured look came onto her face as her twin gave her a stern look.

"C'mon, Tally, don't be a hypocrite. You were cooking with me and not going green in the gills a bit ago," Iggy said, flashing a giant grin.

She must've thought something sarcastic at him because he flicked her forehead. "That joke is so stale. S'what if I'm blind? Ever heard of a figure of speech Oh Dark Rambling One?"

Talon rolled her eyes before getting a plate for herself, putting significantly less food on it than her brother's.

Once we were all settled and Channel Seven News was playing softly in the background, we got to pigging out.

The only people who really talked while they ate were Mom, Ella and Fang, with Tally jumping in and miming something in between, moving the food on her plate around and hesitantly putting food in her mouth. (Not surprisingly, the bacon disappeared first on everyone's plates.)

It was all…nice.

Really nice to be able to sit down and eat breakfast as if we were _normal_ kids instead of on the run.

But of course everything had to come crashing down around us.

Ella and Mom were discussing something about one of the "patients" mom had taken care of, when Tally stared fearfully at the TV, her silverware spattering on the porcelain with loud clinks.

She was staring aghast at the TV, as if it had just boiled live puppies.

Immediately, the room went silent as the sound of the Newscasters voice floated through the room.

"_So for those of you who are into hunting, there is a reward of fifty thousand dollar if anyone manages to catch any of the winged beings,"_ tension rose in the room. _"What are your thoughts on this Greg?"_

I could feel the blood drain from my face as they said "fifty thousand dollars."

"_Well, Mary, I think that catching these beings and studying them will most likely help us advance in the medical field and, who knows, perhaps one day we shall all have wings!"_

"_Yes, planes would then not be needed, or cars, obesity would go down, pollution would most likely halt completely thus solving Global Warming, at least that's what the experts are saying!" _the woman named Mary said. _"So, scientists are saying that it is _very important_ that those winged beings are captured._ _Now to George with the Sports Update! How are those knicks Geo—"_

Mom clicked it to another News channel, "_World leaders are now arguing over who will be the first to study these winged beings. Are they godsend? Are they angels? Or merely another stunt by fanatics? Is this all just one science-fiction movie that's being kept under wraps by Hollywood? Or a government conspiracy like Area 51?_"

"_Well, Nancy, online public voting polls say that this is most likely a government cover up"—_they had that one right—"_or the more religious inclined people are reverting to implying these beings are angels, a sign of the Armageddon."_

Ella turned off the TV, the room falling into stony silence.

…

I knew that people would be suspicious of us, when we did those stunts and showed our wings in public….but this?!

Usually the tabloids blew over and forgot all about us winged kids, so why were they making such a fuss_ this time?!_

_The Facility, Maximum._

I stiffened, _What do you mean? What about the Facility?_

_The Facility, like Itex, has means of pulling strings to let things fall in their favor. Not to mention China, Spain and various other countries were already aware of your existence._

"So they're trying to draw us out?" I muttered under my breath, tapping my temple when the flock looked at me weirdly.

_Save the world from the 'Armageddon' Maximum. _

_Not this crap again!_ _I already saved the world from Itex!_

There was no answer, like always. Whenever I had a good question it just went silent.

A few choice words left my lips.

Save the world from this thing the humans were calling the Armageddon? That was so…freaky!

"What did it say, Max?" Fang asked, his hand on my arm.

I looked around at everyone. To mom and Ella who seemed stressed, to Gazzy and Nudge who appeared like they were fighting tears, to Total and Angel who were putting on brave faces, to Iggy who was scowling, and Tally who's hands were shaking like a leaf. Then finally Fang, his eyes were flat as they looked at mine.

I took a deep breath, "It says we have to save the world again."

"From what? The only thing we can possibly be doing this crap is The Facility," Iggy muttered foully, rubbing Tally's arms.

"No," I answered. "The Voice said that the Facility, Spain, China and bunch of other countries already knew about us, about the wings. Those people that wanted to buy us? Yeah, they apparently want to get there hands on us. No matter what. If it means they have to fib to the public, train the public eye on us."

"I see," Ella muttered. "Like how paparazzi chase celebrities, right? It's almost impossible for the celebs to go to the grocery store without being photographed."

"I guess," Not that I would be that informed about celebrities—I didn't really care about Brad Pitt or any of them; I was more concerned with the safety of my flock.

"And by what you said, about wanting to draw us out," Fang continued hoarsely. "You mean the fights that are bound to happen while we're on the run? The bounty hunters trying to shoot us for a few big bucks. They want to corner us so that they know where we are at all times."

Well, didn't _this_ make a bad situation a zillion times worse.

So the total is:

1) Fang and Tally sick, with a chance that they will _die_.

2) Bounty hunters after us.

3) Goblins (always a bad thing)

4) The whole wide world watching us.

Great, just _great_.


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Did we really need this?

Did we really need flimsy humans armed with God knows _how_ many guns and knives added onto the "List of Crazies After Our Hides?"

No, not really, but it wasn't as if whining like weenies was going to help anything.

So instead of pulling a Tally and rambling endlessly on some random topic, I focused on being a leader and pulling some fantastic spontaneous plan out of my hat that would either save the day or be categorized as another one of my stupid mistakes. (Sadly, there were a _lot_ of the latter. In Fang and Iggy's opinion at least.)

Okay, so the Voice wanted me to save the word from the Armageddon, or the Apocalypse.

But the humans were the ones that were hunting us now, not just Goblins and the usual brand of hellish experiments.

But they thought that _we_were a sign that this thing was happening so how was I going to solve _that_?

Righteous people would probably tell me to turn the flock in and be some stupid martyr in this stupid mess, and then I would gleefully knocked their teeth out for suggesting I deliberately put my flock in that kind of unnecessary danger.

The companies—The Facility, China, Spain and all the rest of the evil dudes in whitecoats—were all trying to forcefully lure us out and corner us at the same time.

We wouldn't be able to fly unless we were _dang_ sure that there weren't any foolhardy, wannabe hunters in the immediate area.

And unless we all managed to develop the ability to shape shift then we were eternally screwed since those kids in West Virginia could probably go to the nearest police and have sketches of us made.

Yeah, this was a mess of epic proportions.

"We should get another makeover," Angel said softly, running her hands through Total's fur. "No one recognized us back then when we were in New York."

"That's a good idea Angel," Mom said. "Ella and I can go to the nearest wig shop, buy some and get you guys contacts…"

Fang covered his mouth, wincing some as he coughed.

"But we can't leave soon, can we?" I mused. "Fang and Tally can barely get up and walk around…"

They both gave me a dark look, making to get up out from the covers.

I shook my head and pushed Fang down. "Okay, this isn't a matter of whether or not you can push yourself till you drop, okay? It's your actual health. The same way that I would stop mid-flight to set up camp if it were any other flock member! Just deal!"

Fang looked at me with flat eyes before giving a barely audible huff and pointedly looking away from me.

"Right, so mom, you'll get us wigs, and…er…if you can, one of those big maps that have all of the countries and states of the world?"

Ella and Mom nodded, getting up and walking out of my room.

I turned to my flock, "All right guys, to save the world we have to stop this crap from happening."

"But how?" Nudge asked. "They have tons more people out there trying to spot us, like Ella said. And we can't all go invisible like Fang or freeze people like Tally."

"Can't we just fly somewhere and ignore this? Try Fang's idea of having a home one more time?" Gazzy asked hesitantly.

"No," Fang said. "Last time, we ended up getting captured by the school. And it would be hard to live a normal life without being able to spread our wings some every once in a while."

I nodded, "Right. We have to meet this thing head on. We have to stop all these experimental facilities once and for all."

"Tally thinks we should bomb the Facility," Iggy muttered. "Take one down, have a million to go."

"Yeah," I said slowly. "But then that would attract attention to us. A whole place going up in a giant fireball? Isn't that a little conspicuous?"

Iggy through his hands up, "We have to get rid of them somehow, Max! We can't just let that place stand while they keep cranking out Goblins and other stupid lies to get us captured!"

"I know, Ig. But if we blow up The Facility without searching the databases for any other places like that, and the list of people whom they intended to sell Tally and Fang, then we are basically screwed and our mission goes up in flames."

Tally placed her hand on Iggy's, idly doodling on his skin and he visibly calmed down.

"So we're going back there?" Angel asked, aiming her round blue and trusting eyes at me. "We're going to sneak in and get out?"

"_Then_we bomb it?" Gazzy added, a wicked grin on his face.

"Yeah, we're getting in, hacking, getting out, and _then_ you can go wild and blow it to smithereens. And then we get the heck outta there, hopefully, with feathers intact."

-

Tally scowled, as soon as Max left the room, she pushed herself out of bed again, shaking her hands and feet to get some feeling back in them, seeing Fang doing the same on the other side of the bed, but a bit more shaky.

She checked her bandages, noting that they weren't soaked through with scarlet.

_We aren't to bad, now…_she thought, lifting her shirt to look at her flat stomach, ignoring the mess of scars and poking some of the green tinted stuff around the bandages.

"You shouldn't do that," Iggy said, pulling her shirt back down and holding her hands at her sides.

Talon aimed a glare at him. _I know. I just wanted to see that I wasn't turning into one of those stupid boogieman Goblins. _

"You won't. Now what's your excuse, Fang? I'm pretty dang sure you already _are_ a boogieman," Iggy asked teasingly.

"Stretching," he muttered, rolling of the sleeves of his black shirt to his elbows.

"Riiiight, and I'm the Tooth Fairy," Iggy muttered, releasing Tally's hands. "Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, help me take these plates down?"

The younger kids nodded while Talon picked up Total and put him on her lap, trying to give him a faux-hawk to pass the time.

"I do hope you know you both know that you reek," Total said off-handedly. "But I suppose it's the old bandages and the sweating you did with the fever and all that."

Fang rolled his eyes, "We're more concerned with _not dying_, Total."

Tally's lips almost quirked into a smile, she reached out to the bedside table and grabbed a nice little pink ribbon.

_Hmmm…I wonder how Total would look like as a girl…Totalita? That sounds like Toastitos or something…._

"We're slowing the flock down," Fang muttered as soon as the rest of the flock had left with the plates.

Tally nodded somberly, slumping a bit, her long hair curtaining her off.

Fang and her didn't like slowing the flock down, for anything. Which is why they didn't bother telling them they were sick. And now they were stuck in the position they were trying to _prevent._

The flock's lives on the line, while they're stuck on their butts because of the GH05T serum in their veins.

Fang flopped back onto the bed after a while, covering his eyes with his arm, sighing.

Yeah, things weren't too great.

She touched Total's head, looking him straight in the eyes and showed him a picture of Angel and Nudge.

"Sure, I'll go downstairs, Talon, it'll save me from this ghastly stench you both are exuding," he said, hopping off her lap and trotting away, his little stumpy tail wagging.

Tally pulled the laptop to her, opening up her blog page and frowning when she saw all the comments.

She tapped Fang's hand and he peeked from under his arm. Tally motioned to the comments on the profile page of her blog.

"What the—" Fang said softly, his eyes scanning over the comments. "These people are rabid. Are you sure they just don't _like_ you?"

Tally slugged him in the arm, giving a soft snicker.

"Here, let me log into mine…"

A pause.

"Damn these people are _nut-jobs._"

Tally nodded earnestly, her eyes scanning over the threats with a few supportive comments sprinkled in between.

Fang closed the laptop, and swung his legs over the bed, "Let's go show this to Max."

-

_**FlyingwithdaFlock**_** commented on Fang's page…**

Dude, my dad's in the military, give yourself up. You'll be helping the world with Global Warming and all that if you let us study you, plus we get some cash!

_**SmexKitten1989 **_**commented on Fang's page…**

Fang! I hope you know my parents are fighting because of you! Dad is obsessed with catching you and the flock and mom doesn't want him to be in danger! I HATE YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!

_**DeathsFlight**_** commented on Fang's page…**

This is nuts. Don't let anybody capture you, stay incognito or something and don't let the rest of the nutty people giving you hate mail bother ya. They're just idiots.

_**Natalie B. **_**commented on Fang's page…**

My dad's polishing up his long range rifle, I hope you know. He's really excited about earning $350,000…it's scaring my little sister. DeathsFlight, _you_ are the idiot. You don't know how this is affecting other people! So just shut up!

_**DeathsFlight **_**commented on Fang's page…**

Natalie B.? Yeah? Shut up. I do know. I just don't piss and whine about it like you do. I just say "screw the world" and go to the "Pro-Flock" meetings. Don't you dare say I don't know how its affecting people cause I do!

_**Matsacoolgeek**_** commented on Fang's page…**

Dude this is _insane_.

_**PissedOffChick **_**commented on Fang's page…**

*^%$ off Fang! Your f**cking up my whole life!

Max blinked at the tons and tons of comments on Fang's page…

Tally bit her lip. _This so sucks._

"Wow, the legions of Fang's cult followers have turned on him?" Iggy asked, half grinning.

Tally smacked him, _They turned on me too. And I guess since I've barely had my blog _any_ time, they felt it was okay to call me names…not that they didn't call Fang a…er…nasty names more than once._

"This is so bizarre."

Tally winced some, rubbing bellow her collar bone a bit. _Ouch._

Iggy's head whirled around to "look" at her. "You okay?" he barely mouthed.

Other than the slight increasing burning in her chest and head? Yeah, she was peachy keen. _Fine. Bit my tongue. _

The dark haired girl glanced at Max and Fang, seeing that they were off in their own worlds and her brother seemed perfectly fine. _Alone time, please? You can work on that little cell phone bomb with Gazzy…I'll watch. _

"And start a running commentary in your head, right?" he asked playfully, only to her. "Max, we're going to go hang with Gazzy."

She shook her head at how he didn't even wait to see Max's reaction as he pulled her up the stairs.

Next thing Tally knew, she was sitting cross legged, watching Iggy and Gazzy expertly create a mini army of bombs.

_Oooh…that looks cool…watch it with the wires! Ain't that a nice shade of yellow?_

"This yellow? It's like a banana," Iggy said amused.

_Yeah, that's why its cool. It's like they replicated a banana skin and just wrapped it around the wire thingy…better than throwing them on the floor so that someone can fall on their butts like in those cartoons…_

"Should I get the canola oil and cayenne pepper?" Gazzy asked, fiddling with a mess of wires and connecting them like the evil little genius he was.

_Oooh, I'll get the water guns! That'll be fun! _Tally thought, her mouth curling into a smile. _And we can get some really spicy dried peppers and that stuff I snagged from that CVS, what was is? Ethyl Alcohol? _

"Yeah, it'll cause major mayhem for the hunters. Sure, Gazzy, get it."

_Hm, imagine how the hunters will feel when we drop home made tear gas on them? It'll be awesome. But we'd better get out of there fast. Hey, isn't tear gas a bit redundant when we have the Gasman? We can just tell him to rip one or something and he'll make all of those idiots drop like flies._

"But we don't want to risk him getting shot in the butt to save us," Iggy pointed out, a look of utter concentration on his eyes as he twisted the last wires together and rubbed his hands. "Done. The Cell Phone from Hell, is finis."

Tally leaned forward, swallowing a small whimper when the hurt in her chest shifted some. _Looks cool. And very discreet, hey! Are those the strap thingies from that bra I tossed out?!_

"Uh…no, why would you think that?" Iggy asked, his eyes darting away a tad bit nervously.

Tally leaned in close to him, as if to kiss him, _I'll quote Max again, then: Sexist. Pig. _

"Heh, oink, oink," he said a softly, making to close the minuscule gap between their lips.

"OMG MAX! DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Tally quite literally fell over onto her side and gritted her teeth when the acid in her head and chest seemed to double.

"What the hell was that?!" Iggy asked, eyes aiming at the door. "C'mon! Let's go check it out, Tally!"

_Ugh…can't move. Too tired. Nightie night, don't let the Goblins bites…_ she thought blandly, blinking owlishly. She cursed Nudge's name, and intended to do it from dawn to dusk. They were finally gonna get some alone time and kiss some…_Oh the irony…how many times has this happened to us? We always get interrupted. It's like a damn sitcom._

Iggy rolled his eyes at her, swooped down and pulled her to her feet.

In a few seconds they were downstairs with everyone else, huddled around Max.

"Wha' happened?"

Nudge turned to them, "Omigawd! Dr. Martinez and Ella walked in while Max and Fang were, er, doing couple-y things and then Max got startled and jumped in the air some and tossed her hand out and the bags in Dr. Martinez's hands flew straight across the room! And it was so cool! Sorta of like what I do with metal but Max makes it go away and mmph mmph grmmph!!!"

_So Max developed another power? What's this add up to, The Voice, Warp Drive and this weird thingy with moving things with her mind now? _

**A/N: **

**Me: I haven't really done one of these in a long time. So, Imma say that I love this story to bits but I need to update WvW and put some stuff in there before I get my head whacked off by overzealous readers. **

**Max: You know, Iggy's a **_**real**_** perv in this one. **

**Me: You called him a sexist pig on more than one occasion, what's with the change of heart? We've read fanfics where he's caught with his hands in the wrong places with both Ella and Nudge respectively. This is only the tip of the ice burg. **

**Max: Ugh, gross. Just don't go overboard. **

**Me: I won't. Anyways, I like the end better than the beginning. The angst made me snap and decide to go with my craving for some Tiggy/Taggy action. And apparently implied FAX.**

**Max: ….**

**Me: And we all know Max loves FAX, heh. Anyways, got two of my summer reading requirements finished yesterday (both in one day, not little by little, I see no point in doing it little by little, so I take advantage of being a bookworm), and have three to go. So I was slacking off today and writing for my wonderful readers. I recommend ****Looking for Alaska**** by John Green (9****th****grade requirement and there is booze, cigs, implied dirty stuff and other things I'm not at liberty to say) and ****Impulse**** by Ellen Hopkins (a bunch of poems that tells the tale of three teenagers who all end up at Aspen Springs mental facility because they all attempted suicide and are on the road to recovery. The poems seem much better than most prose and regular narratives I've read)**

**Max: That was long. Finish up already. We need to go make cookies.**

**Me: Yeah…oh! And the cayenne pepper, ethyl alcohol stuffs? True. Homemade teargas anyone? I have a bottle of it stuffed in the back of my closet in case things arise. Dad actually had the gall to ask me if I wanted to be a long range gun shooter for the FBI. I said no. I wanted to be in the ballistics unit so that I can put my pyromania to work, but heck, I'll deal with an M16, a Glock or whatever. Would be fun. Lol**

**-Maddy and Max**

**REVIEW!**


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"Your new power is like Tally's and Nudge's," Fangsaid. "The bags didn't go flying until you moved your hand."

Nudge stopped the on-going commentary she was having with Tally and reached out for a knife on the counter, and just as it flew across the counter to her hand Tally flicked her hand at it.

On instinct, we all winced expecting it to blow up, but instead it just paused in midair. Tally looked at me expectantly, as if to say, _We're all proving our point. Now use your power already._

Maybe I should have thought a bit more about the fact that what we were hurling across the room was a sharp, pointy, lethal knife before I flicked my wrist at it (feeling like an idiot) as Tally did.

Total darted out of the way as the knife imbedded itself in the bread holder with a firm _crunch_, little splinters of wood flying through the air and landing all over the counter and tile.

"You could've killed me!" he wailed, running into Angel's arms. "You could have killed me! And then I would not be there to save the day! You ingrate!"

"Sorry, Total," I muttered, _Yeah_, _sorry, I missed._

Angel shot me an alarmed look, her blue eyes filling up with tears as she hugged Total to her.

_Kidding, Angel! Just kidding! Just sarcasm, sweetie!_

She calmed, giving a small sniff. The tears that I suspected were of the crocodile type evaporating as she gave me a sad smile.

Thank God, I don't think I would have been able to handle a crying Angel on top of all the crap that's been happening today. I mean, seeing her crying pisses me off and makes me want to kick whoever made her cry in the butt…but when it's me who did it…

Yeah, just makes me feel like a bunch of smelly old (insert swear word of choice here).

"Dang," Fang muttered, him, his twin and Iggy all gathered around the knife, examining it. "That could killed someone."

"Yeah, lay off of the power when you do that, Max," Iggy said, his sensitive fingers brushing over the cracks in the box feather-lightly. (Feather lightly, geddit? It's a humor of the bird kid kind! Oh, forget it.)

Tally paid him no mind, not even elbowing him like she usually did, she just wrapped her hand around the knife and yanked it out. With more force than was needed.

It slipped out of her hand and went screeching for the microwave, but she had already flicked her hand at it again, freezing it.

Her mouth opened and closed, forming words that I wouldn't dare let Angel hear, as she walked up to the cleaver calmly, grabbed it out of the air and put it back where it belonged.

And all through that, she looked annoyingly impassive, almost to the point of brooding.

"Are we done throwing knives around my kitchen?" Mom asked, pouring the contents of the bright yellow plastic bag onto the table. "Because I have the wigs and contacts. And some thrift store clothes."

"Ooh! Do you have a blonde one? Cause I've always wanted to be a blonde! But blondes always get called stupid and did you know that apparently to kill a blonde you just have to glue a mirror to the bottom of a pool? That's so mean but it's funny! Ooh and—oops. No offense Max," Nudge said, turning sheepish towards the end.

"Ooh! Look! My name is Maximum Ride! And I am, like, such a blonde! I was locked in a grocery store overnight and nearly died of starvation!" he said in a voice that screamed Barbie.

Annoyance flared through me as I put him in a headlock, rubbing my knuckles against his head in a noogie while everyone else chuckled and giggled. "Blonde am I? Well this blonde has been saving your life since she could punch!"

-

_Not bad, not bad at all…_ Tally thought, pulling her hand up into a fist at eyelevel, smirking at the biker gloves and giving the air in front of her an experimental punch.

"Speak for your self, Tally."

_I think you look nice!_

"Uh-huh," Iggy whined, his eyes darting off in the opposite direction of her. "This wig's itchy."

_I never thought surfer boy blonde would suit you, but it does! And with those dark green contacts, you can't even tell you're blind!_ Tally insisted, putting the burning to the back of her mind.

Iggy's hand darted out to touch her hair. Or rather, the wig's artificial hair.

"I like your black hair better. Even the white streak…Auburn…jeez. And your hairs shorter than mine!" he exclaimed, pointing out to the fact that it barely fell beneath her chin.

_You and Fang both got the long haired wigs, not my problem. But it _is_ sad that my hair isn't long anymore._

"So Fang has the same color as you?" Iggy asked, grinning evilly, tugging on her hand so that they could wander back into the living room. He adjusted to her slow trudge, reminding himself that she was sick.

_Yup, blue contacts and all. We still look like twins, but…ugh, I don't even recognize him! _Or_ Max. Or Gazzy. Or Angel. Or Nudge. _

"But that's a good thing," said Iggy, draping his arm around her shoulders. "Means the West Virginians won't be able to point us out, right?"

Tally slid her hands into the pockets of her cargos, slightly annoyed that Dr. Martinez had insisted that Fang and her exchange their black outfits for something that didn't stand out so much in the daytime. She was wearing this strange gray turtleneck (that she assumed was meant to be part of a swimsuit by the clingy-ness and the sleeveless-ness) with two white striped going town the neck and out the shoulders on either side, and some army green cargos. They even made her switch out the combat boots Max had given to her for some new, more polished boots.

Tally blinked when they got to the living room, half choking.

_Holy crap! Max—! Ohmygosh this is sooo priceless!_

"You have two seconds to tell me what's so funny," Iggy said impatiently.

Tally shook her head and merely sent him the picture, completely ignoring the whole "tell me" part of his statement.

Max didn't look like Max. Enough said.

A curly honey colored wig, and hazel-gold eyes, a snug fitting green shirt, khakis, and sneakers.

"Show me, Fang, show me Fang!" Iggy said eagerly, poking Tally in the stomach.

She flinched some when he poked a bandage but showed him anyways, disregarding both Max and Fang's dark looks.

Her brother was wearing an Auburn wig as well, blue contacts, a scowl that made him look like he was going to murder both her and Iggy on the spot, gray shirt and jeans and sneakers.

"Holy crap," Iggy muttered, completely astonished. "You're right. He doesn't look like Fang. And she doesn't look like Max!"

Tally rolled her eyes. _I told ya. It's like the flock from before has completely disappeared._

"And you both don't look like yourselves either. Get over it," Fang muttered darkly, grabbing a lock of hair and glaring at it distastefully.

Tally was surprised it didn't just shrivel up and die on the spot from his glare. Is that what she looked like when she was glaring? Yikes.

Her eyes met her brother's as another bout of fire settled in her chest, her temples started to throb some.

He nodded at her, gritting his teeth.

They'd tough it out. Anything to prove that they weren't burdens and that they didn't have to stay stuck in a bed because they were a bit fatigued or had some hellish thing in their chests and heads eating away at them from the inside out.

_Oh, Iggy? Can you tell Max that I need to go get something? And Gazzy wanted to go with me,_ she thought, pulling her hands out of her pockets and uncurling them once the wave of pain dulled.

"That's spontaneous," he grumbled, but told Max anyways.

"Is this necessary?" Max asked, aiming Talon a steely look. "I mean, your sick and we have the whole human hunter problem and the Goblins…"

Tally gave a sharp nod, ready to cross her arms and pull the stubborn act up.

Max sighed, "Fine. Just be careful. We don't need anything else to get messed up."

The mute-girl subconsciously froze for half a second then gave Max another sharp nod, wandering off to find the Gasman.

She didn't plan on messing anything else up. She'd make sure to gather the supplies that Gazzy wanted for this new bomb he found on the net, she'd steal a knife to stash down in her boot, and they'd be out of town and back at Dr. M's house in no time at all.

"Tally!" Gazzy said excitedly. "Did they let us?"

Talon spared him a grin. He looked so not Gasman like. Dark hair, dark eyes, black clothes, made him look like a mini-Fang. And it was adorable.

"Great! Let's go then!" he said, putting on a small empty black backpack. "You got the money?"

Tally rolled her eyes, stuffing her hand in one pocket and showing him the Maximum Ride card Max had lent her.

-

"I'm not sure if we should get this one or this one, what do you think Tally?" Gazzy asked, holding up two bottles of what would look like innocent household cleaning chemicals but were far more sinister in the Gasman's hands.

She scrutinized them the pointed to the green one. _That one seems more promising, _she thought to herself.

"Thanks! That's what I was thinking too!"

Tally bobbed her head, brushing her hands over a can of hair spray. _Aren't there tapes on YouTube of people putting lighters in front of these and making flame throwers? I'll get the super hold one just in case, it's gotta be more potent. _

"You ready to go Tally?" Gazzy asked, the basket filled with essential bomb making material.

She ruffled his hair and turned to go to the counter, giggling silently at how hyper he seemed to be.

They paid for their things and walked outside, loosing the plastic bag and putting everything in the back pack. Her brand new knife was already in her boot.

Talon gave a discreet scan as Gazzy tossed the bag, always at his heels.

And then she froze, the hairs on the nape of her neck standing on end.

_Shit! How long have they been following us?! How did they recognize us?!_

She clamped her hand on Gazzy's shoulder, tapping it, picked up the bag and made a beeline for the forest line.

There had been four Goblins melting out of an alley way, the only reason she hadn't recognized them before was because they were in street clothes—trench coats in Arizona, albeit, but still.

A silent curse left her lips when she saw two more coming at them from the left.

_Crap crap crap, shit!_

She looked down at Gazzy, saw the brave face he was putting on and felt anger course through her veins. _Gazzy shouldn't have to deal with this! He should be playing with toys and thinking girls are icky instead of running away from boogeyman-wannabes and wondering who's if a human's going to aim a rifle at him!_

Tally's heart stopped when she saw Goblins slithering out of the shadows as they reached the clearing where she had intended to U an A.

_Dammit, _she turned around, spreading her feet, bending her knees and giving the dark creatures an aloof look, covering the Gasman.

"Tally, we should fly!" Gazzy said, tugging on her jacket.

She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and nodded.

Gazzy grinned and took off his sweatshirt, shaking out his speckled wings just as a Goblin launched at them.

Tally jumped in front of him, smashing a fist into one of its robotic eyes just as it slammed her onto the ground back-first.

She winced as its long claws piercing her skin. It loomed above her, more of them swarming around.

And then the other eye went as Tally head-butted it, bright red goop squirting all over her forehead and running down her face like bloody tears.

She tossed the body off of her, took off her jacket in one fluid movement and ran straight at some Goblins, doing a baseball style slide past and then leapt into the air, her soot colored wings glinting in the light.

And not too late, judging by the _BOOM _after Gazzy let down a small bomb.

The after shock sent a few pieces of shrapnel hurling at them, but they got away with only slices and scrapes.

Tally pointed up anxiously, _The human hunters will be able to tell we've got wings if we don't fly higher! And they'll come snooping after that bomb!_

Gazzy nodded, "Right! We need to get some altitude!"

-

The flight home was short and quick, but the Gasman and Talon landed in the backyard looking around and scanning the terrain nervously. Hope, that's what they could do.

Hope that those stupid things hadn't followed them.

But the fact that they had found them only meant that they had to leave.

And both of them knew it, sadly.

Talon noted glumly how the blood was so obvious on the gray shirt as she padded into the kitchen blankly.

"What happened?!" Max exclaimed as soon as she saw them.

Tally had a strange flashback to West Virginia at Anne's house but pushed it down and nudged Gazzy.

"Goblins found us. We don't know how they recognized us, but they chased us to this clearing and Tally beat the stuffing out of one and we flew away…after I threw a bomb at them," he said the last part quietly.

"A bomb?! Won't that tell the human hunters exactly where we are?!" Max said, stiffening.

Tally squared her shoulders, giving Max a warning look when the Gasman looked down a bit.

"Ah, I mean I'm glad you guys got out safely. But this means we'll have to leave. Now."


	31. Chapter 30

A/N: This chappy is dedicated to Bell (Aleria14) and Iggy. Who I put through hell and stress balls while I wrote this. Sowwy!!! Chapter 30

Flying while you had a sneaky little burning in your chest sucked a lot, at least, that's what Tally thought.

And she was dang sure her brother shared the same thoughts and was working just as hard as her at blocking out Angel.

How much did it suck?

How would she know? Was there some sort of freaky-deaky meter for these things now? Oh yes, just stick it under your tongue, wait ten seconds and it will tell you how much it sucks for you. Of course not!

All she knew was that it wasn't really ideal to be flying and constantly moving and pretending you were fine when in reality you had acid washing down your insides and wanted to punch something.

On top of that was all the dang guilt she had for actually agreeing with Gazzy's little scheme of going out to buy things in town when she knew full well how dangerous it was. (Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was counting on Max putting her foot down, she supposed. But then again, Max was under enough stress as it was and so she let it slide…)

But would that have meant that he would have gone to someone else?

She shook off the thoughts.

It did her no good to dwell on how incredibly useless she was becoming to the flock.

She couldn't freeze or blow up the Goblins; that was one.

This current screw up; that was another.

Her screwing with everyone's emotions…meaning sudden sibling feelings for Fang and Max, romantic ones for Iggy and older sister syndrome for the little kids and that "annoying dog that's still cute but you want to throw out the window at times…"

She blinked slowly, realizing her lapse into her little corner of depressiveness.

"Landing time, guys!" Max said, snapping Tally out of her daze.

_I need to stop spacing out…_she followed after Fang, half smirking when she saw him with the wig.

She and Fang stumbled a bit when they landed, but it was nothing _major._

"You guys all right?" Max asked, concern clear in her face.

Tally stiffened before casually stuffing her hands in her pockets and nodding, _Tip-top shape, Max shouldn't baby us, we're perfectly fine…Yeah…fine…_

Iggy shot her a weird look that she completely ignored, examining the place they (of course, "they" meant their fearless and all mighty leader Max with some input from Fang, no doubt) had decided was "safe."

It was a nice grassy clearing, with clovers here and there, big trees leaning towards the center of the field with dandelions speckled here and there.

She crouched down, running her hand over the grass—_Bouncy,_ she noted amused. _Seems like this won't be _too_ bad to sleep on…_

-

I gave a faint smile at the flock, stiffening and looking around some when I couldn't spot Tally.

But there she was, under a tree far away from everybody, plucking blades of grass up with a glazed stare, the bright pink band-aid standing out on her cheek, new bruises on her face.

I frowned.

They kept targeting Tally.

Now that I think about it, they targeted her and Iggy when we were in West Virginia, when she heard voices, the Facility with her and Fang, her and Gazzy…

Could she have a chip?

It _seemed_ likely.

But I wasn't about to tell her to do a U-turn and go get an X-ray or anything, that might just freak everyone out too much. (Not to mention that Tally on Valium would probably mean her powers going wonky or something)

"Max, pass me the soda."

"Sure," I turned to where I assumed the soda would be but was stopped by Fang.

"No, the one Angel is holding."

I cocked an eyebrow before looking at my baby, who was holding up a Coca Cola with a smile on her face.

Sighing, I extended my hand out warily, and made a slow "come and get me" gesture that they use in Jacky Chan movies.

Surprisingly, the can of soda actually flew towards me instead of in the opposite direction and landed in the grass in front of me.

"Shaky, but nothing some practice won't help with," Fang muttered, grabbing the soda and settling it away from him.

He probably didn't want it to burst into a mess of fizzy-ness and have Talon insist she find some stream to wash it in or something…

My eyes wandered right back to her.

Why wasn't she with Iggy and Gazzy?

-

Night fell quickly—or at least, to Tally it fell quickly.

She wasn't really paying attention to anything, the Flock were talking away, popping out contacts and putting them into little containers and shaking their natural hair out of the bald caps they (reluctantly) wore during the majority of the day.

She shook her head and balled her windbreaker into a ball to use as a pillow, turning on her side.

Sleep would do her good.

Hopefully.

Maybe.

Okay, so she wasn't all that sure that sleep was going to do anything than "refresh" her mind as much as it could be refreshed on the ground with ants and bugs and stuff crawling all over the place.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

But that doesn't really work out well when rest of your flock is on the other side of the clearing, with a fire, joking around some and doing whatever they wanted to do before "bedtime."

"I _so_ wanted to watch this movie today, I think it was called _Legally Blonde _with Reese Witherspoon, and it looked so awesome! She had a Chihuahua and she was supposed to be a Sorority girl going to Harvard to study law since her boyfriend dumped her to—" Nudge, obviously. And Angel was probably listening to her with Total.

Tally certainly felt a stab of guilt when she heard that quip. It _was_ her fault that Nudge wasn't at Dr. M's house, watching the movie.

"These are awesome, Gasser!" Iggy whispered, probably rummaging through the pack that she and the Gasman had gotten earlier. "But why hairspray? Do you need any help with your hair, man?"

"NO! Tally, got it!"

Tally repressed the urge to give an indignant mental reply.

Iggy was right; it _was_ stupid to get hairspray. Flamethrowers, those two could probably make something more useful with a box of Kleenex and toothpicks.

"Bloggers still hating?" Max.

"Yep."

"I don't understand why this whole reward for out capture thing sways their loyalty. They've gone as far as destroying entire Itex facilities, so why is this different?"

"Iunno, guess cash does some crazy things to people—"

But then suddenly, Tally wasn't hearing that particular conversation.

She had made a sort of startled thing with her throat that would have come out as a noise.

She curled into herself.

Screw burning!

Who the hell thought it was funny to incinerate her chest and head!

She wrapped her arms around herself, salty tears flowing down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth.

The burning, the acid washing through her insides, the increasing weight on her chest…

It was physically _agonizing_ to breathe.

"What's wrong with them?!"

Tally winced violently at the noise, quickly regretting the action when lava poured onto that spot.

_It hurts! It hurts so much! Just stopstopSTOP! Someone please kill me! Someone please let me DIE! THIS ISN'T WORTH IT!_

"They're hurting! They just keep thinking about how much it hurts!"

"WHY ISN'T FANG BREATHING?!"

Tally stalled her chest, choking and gasping, _I can die now…just stop breathing, maybe then it'll cool down? Yeah…just stop so that the hurt stops…_

"Shut up, Nudge! Oh shit, Talon stopped breathing as well!"

-

I kept my panic down and leaned my head down to Fang's chest, holding his hands to down while I pressed my ear to where his heart would be. "His heart's still beating…"

"Tally, no! You have to keep breathing! Even if it hurts!" Iggy said, pulling his hand away from her shoulder as if he was burned when she tried to inch away.

I took Iggy's lead and took a deep breath, "Fang, you have to breathe…Remember what you told me on the beach? '_You_ die when _we_ die'? Well, it works both ways."

Silence.

I could hear Angel and Nudge sobbing, and I could feel the tears going down my own face.

A pool of dread filled my stomach, pulling me down completely.

Fang couldn't die.

Tally couldn't die.

They couldn't die.

A few seconds of silence passed by and then something completely great happened.

The twins made hacking sounds, some green stuff was coughed onto the grass and they began breathing heavily, as if they had just been saved from drowning.

And that was it, we all tackled them with hugs and mushiness and "Thank God"s.

-

Tally frowned when she felt herself in someone's arms, looking at the blurred hands that were all over her.

"Tally!"

"Are you all right?!"

"That was so scary!"

And a bunch of other things replacing her name with her brother's had been said while she tried to gather her bearings, noticing how the fire and acid had turned into a dull throb.

Now everyone was asleep, with Max taking watch.

She looked to her right, rubbing her eyes some.

Iggy was holding her hand of course, Gazzy was latched onto her other one.

Fang was about five feet away, with Max and Angel latched onto him, and Nudge at both his and Tally's feet, Total snoring away by her side.

Burden.

Burden.

Burden.

She took a shaky breath, leaning into Iggy's side, smiling faintly when he muttered something under his breath.

_This has to stop…I can't think like this…is it this stupid thing? Is it putting me in a depression?_

_Maybe Fang too…_

Tally bit her lip and closed her eyes. _What I'd give to be able to sleep now…_

_Dammit._

Her eyes opened when she felt someone staring at her, and flicked over to Max's.

"Try to Sleep, Tally," she muttered softly.

Talon stiffened then nodded, her head turning to the forest before finally settling down.

She was being watched.

They were being watched.


	32. Chapter 31

**Message to Iggy and Bell: Bell, uh, read it first before reading it to Iggy. :D**

**And all other readers, please review!!! I might be swamped in homework but that doesn't mean I won't crawl onto the computer to type whatever I have written down of Dark Blue!!!! REVIEW!**

**And Talon666 is looking to have the characters from their story "NeoFlock" drawn. Just put them straight on deviantart!**

Chapter 31

Despite Fang and Tally nearly dying (and by default, making us all into a weepy torn up flock instead of the hardened, tough bird kids we are), we had to move.

Even if they felt like falling down or something.

Iggy suggested we steal a car when I talked to him.

And to point out how wrecked I was after the twins nearly _died_, I actually considered it. But then my more rational side jumped up and started a tug of war with the weepy sentimental side.

…But now that we are awake and Tally looks blue and Fang seems like he's going to glare at the sun till it gives up (sadly, his eyes will be worse off that Iggy's if he actually _tries_ this)…I've had a change of heart.

Which is precisely why I am trekking across a deserted parking lot (towards a truck with tinted windows) with my hood up just in case, and wig-contacts combo at the ready.

Of course though, this is where my paranoia kicks in.

A rustle in the bushes…._That rock on the floor, I can bludgeon whoever…_

A cat jumping out spooked…_I can hurl that abandoned plastic chair…_

And when I finally get to the car, pop the hood, do my thing with the starter and a screw driver, I sigh in relief.

Yes, I know, Maximum Ride needs some Lithium or Prozac for being so paranoid.

Believe me, Fang has wanted to drag me to a shrink for _years._

So now I'm cruising on the road, ready to stash the truck in the woods and get the flock.

-

Tally looked up at Iggy, squinting her eyes some when his image blurred.

They were a little ways away from the rest of the flock, hidden away in the trees while Nudge babysat Fang. And Gazzy. And Angel, Total and Celeste.

_Not that I don't like this, but is there any specific reason for all the mushy stuff?_ Tally thought at Iggy, leaning the side of her face against his chest, curled up on his lap.

Of course, "mushy stuff" referred to the fact that they were on the ground (minus wigs) so close together away from everyone. Not that they didn't hold hands in front of the flock or anything…but leaving them? Only on certain rare occasions.

Someone more feminine that Tally…or Max would call it "cuddling."

Iggy snorted, completely ruining any semblance of "cute" the scene might have had. "You nearly die from this freaky GH05T thing and then you ask me why I'm hanging with you? Did you hit your head Tally?"

Her ears warmed up. _No… I hadn't thought of that…I almost died….it's starting to get stale, don't you think?_

"Huh?"

_Thinking 'I almost died.' As experiments—_

"People, kids," Iggy automatically corrected.

_Right, whatever. _Kids_ in our _situation_ are always thinking 'I almost died' than normal kids. Like surviving grafting, surgeries, Erasers, Flyboys, Goblins. We say it almost as much as other kids say "Like ZOMG!!!" or as much as they talk about the latest break ups and things. _

Iggy nodded slowly, "Yeah, I guess your right."

_No guessing about it. I am absolutely right this time, unlike the false fairy tale BS you try to feed me. _

Iggy smiled, "Honestly, it's sort of cute, getting you annoyed."

Tally rolled her eyes, _Smart aleck. _

"What the hell makes you think that?" he asked smirking.

_A lot of things, actually._ She didn't mention how she knew that acting more childish than he was an irony were his way of coping, like how sarcasm was Max's and being silent was Fang's.

She didn't really know what hers was.

Cleaning? Maybe.

Mental rambling? Perhaps.

She just wasn't sure.

"Really?" he asked slowly, a grin on his face that made her uneasy.

_Um…I don't trust that evil loo—_

But she didn't finish the thought since he had leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. (Her mind shorted out, in a very Max-like way. She blamed the electricity that always smothered and danced up her veins when she kissed Iggy.)

She moved her mouth against his, her hands slowly coming up to his head, one embedding itself there and the other running lightly against his jaw. She opened her mouth against his, letting his tongue dart in. (Something they had just begun doing a while ago, unfortunately, the first time they had done it, she had had to push him away and barf her guts into a bush then get herded to Dr. M's house with Fang.)

You know, if it weren't for the whole "my twin and I might die, plus we're on the run" thing she'd spend the majority of her time kissing Iggy.

She made a strange noise, somewhere along a breathless squeak and yelp when he kissed her neck softly, sweetly, nipping mischievously.

Which send the romantic atmosphere down the tubes, of course, when Iggy gave a barking laugh.

"Oh, my God! I didn't know you could make that sound Tally!" he said between laughter.

Judging by the heat rushing to her face and ears, Tally guessed she was blushing. You know, just a guess.

She scowled, disentangling herself from him. (How did she not notice the fact that his hand had been creeping up where her shirt had rode up? Not that it was anywhere inappropriate. No; then he'd be killed three times. By her, her twin, and Max for something like that.)

_Jerk_, she thought, crossing her arms.

"Awe, Tally," he covered his mouth, still practically crying from his laughter. "Don't tell me your mad…"

_Okay, I won't tell you…_she thought half teasing. She winced at a pang of pain in her chest.

"Awe, Tally, you know I'm not laughing at you right?" he said, approaching her.

_Uh-huh…_

"Tally," he said, a bit wary now, pulling her back to him. "You're not mad with me, right?"

And at that point she couldn't keep the smile down. She pressed her lips to his throat. _Of course not, nitwit, I lo—like you too much to be mad at you for something so silly. _

Iggy froze. "Tally, what were you going to say?"

She was torn between ducking her head in embarrassment and keeping up the stoic thing her brother and her did. _Nothing. Nothing, just stuttered. _

"Tally, people don't stutter when they think."

She groped for excuses. _How would you know? You can't read minds like Angel. The only mind you can read is your own and mine, and even then it's just short quips. For all you know I have this strange unheard of disease where I stutter in my thoughts but it's gone unnoticed since it pertains to thoughts and normal human doctors haven't gotten around to discovering it, so logically, I can stutter in my mind. And, also—_

He put his hands on her face, somehow managing to force her to look straight at his eyes. "Tally, I know you and your thoughts. And that was a guilty ramble if I ever heard one. What were you going to say?"

She squirmed some and thought it quietly.

"What was that? Ai cuff nyu? What? Think louder."

She repressed the urge to chuckle. 'Think louder'? Was it her, or did the weirdest phrases come up within the flock?

She thought it again, this time taking a deep breath. _I was going to say, "That's why I love you." _A smile alighted Iggy's face. _But that's not necessarily what I meant…_He frowned, opening his mouth to refute…

_What I really wanted to say was "That's why I'm _in_ love with you." Even if we're just fourteen. Does age really matter? I mean really, we're in life and death, we don't know who will survive past…oh, seventeen years so we have to have the best experiences now, right? And so—_

"Tally. Tally!" She blinked owlishly at his half-frustrated half-ecstatic look. "I'm in love with you, too."

Her heart lurched (in a good way) and she pecked his lips teasingly. _Sort of was hoping you were. You know, sort of. _

Iggy chuckled, making to kiss her again but he stopped, cocking his head to one side, and Tally instinctively focused on her hearing.

"Will the two idiots making out in the bushes please get out? Max got us a car!"

Tally looked up, fire in her eyes when she saw her brother's head through a give in the bushes. _FANG! YOU ARE KIBBLE!_

-

I rolled my eyes at the mushy couple in the back.

Sure, sure, there were two couples in the flock. Me and Fang, Iggy and Talon.

However, one of us were complete discreet and just stuck to handholding and the more "couple-y" (as Nudge would say) stuff when we were _completely_ alone. While the other draped themselves over each other whenever, exchanged these brushing of hands that seemed _waaay_ too private to watch and did hormonal teenager things within hearing or seeing distance of the rest of us.

Can you guess which is which?

Yeah, I know, it's _obvious._

So, when Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy and Tally had to cram into the back seat of the full cabin truck, Talon was pulled onto the lap of one Iggy and promptly fell asleep.

The Gasman made a face of course, still thinking that girls had cooties, Nudge awed, and Angel, up in the front seat between me and Fang (and a snoring Total) just looked at me and Fang knowingly.

Don't you just looove little six year olds—

_Seven, Max, _entered our favorite telepathic child.

_Right, seven, doesn't that mean I'm fifteen?_

_Yes, Fang and Tally's "birthday" passed as well, Iggy and Gazzy's are in a week and Nudge's right after that._

Well look at that, not only is she telepathic but also a walking calendar. No offense, Angel, I just love you.

She beamed at me as I got out on an exit ramp, keeping an eye out for a gas station.

I pulled into the pump (And I didn't even go up on two wheels! I'm getting better at this!) and pulled myself down from the truck, getting weird looks from the other guys that were filling up their miscellaneous Beetles and Beemers. I casually slid my Max Ride card into the thing and pressed all the buttons that the machine told me to (it seems like both ATMs and gas pumps are designed for complete idiots) and just leaned against the truck.

I looked around casually, opening my ears to all the conversations going on, turning away from the whole "He dumped me" phone talks, the silent brooders…but I froze when I heard a particularly interesting one.

Two burly men were on the other side of the gas station, next to this big off-road Jeep with old style hunting rifles strapped onto their backs, flannel shirts and a fur cap on their heads.

I suppose they would be the stereotypical definition of "rednecks."

"They closed off all the roads around West Virginia and are doing an big ground and air sweep," said Burly Dude Number 1.

Burly Dude Number 2 scratched his chin, "For them winged people, right? I got meself a brand new rifle just for it."

BDN1 nodded, "Yeah, but I'll be damned if those government people get them before me, I could use the extra cash to get a big house, maybe a limousine."

BDN2 barked a laugh, "Why stop at fifty grand? I tell ya, I'd keep those winged things locked up and sell them to the highest bidder! Maybe even sell they wings on the Black Market!"

I repressed a shudder, grabbed my receipt and jumped back into the truck, pulling out fast.

My knuckles were bloodless on the steering wheel as I pulled out, trying my hardest not to press the accelerator all the way down.

"What's wrong?" Fang asked.

I spared him a look and turned back onto the road. "Human hunters."

"WHAT?!" Came fifty bajillion voices at me. Followed by an "OW!" and a thump.

I looked back frantically, only to see Iggy rubbing his jaw and Tally cradling her head and elbow, splayed against the door awkwardly.

If the situation wasn't so iffy, I would have laughed.

But I didn't.

"Wait," Fang said slowly and hoarsely, looking at me with those weird blue contacts, auburn wig hair falling in front of them. "What did they say? Did they get suspicious?"

I shook my head, "No. They were just talking about…what they would do from selling us, our wings, bid wars…things like that. And that all roads to West Virginia are closed and the ground and air are being checked."

"Goblins, probably," the Gasman said, leaning against the back of Angel's chair.

"But would the humans notice the Goblins? And the Goblins can't fly so they can't check the skies for us. But that would be terrible, like when they grafted wings on the Erasers, or the Flyboys with the guns and stuff!!!" Nudge rambled.

"They _don't_ notice Goblins," Gazzy grumbled as I opened my mouth to answer her. "When Tally and I got ambushed, they were in normal clothes and no one noticed them. Not even when two kids started running down the street away from six trench coat guys."

"Right," I pointed out as Tally ruffled Gazzy's hair. "And they have binoculars and satellites and things like that, so searching the air for us would be easy. Unless it's storming or something, but it's impossible to fly in a storm without risking the possibility of being struck by lightning or going against the wind currents and stuff."

"So what do we do now?" Iggy asked.

I merged into a lane. "We have to find out some more info. Maybe watch some TV, get some newspapers…figure this stuff out…"

"Or we can use the laptop," Fang said easily, coughing into his hand at the end.

"Or that…" I permitted.

-

Well, after Fang finished that up for us, (not without a running commentary from Total and Nudge, Angel and Gazzy conking out) we had some surprising results.

All the human hunters had "registered" themselves as "Bounty Hunters."

And approximately one in every ten adults were Bounty Hunters, not including the PETA people and the organizations for letting us live.

Now, I'm not too good at math, but out of three million or so people in the USA, isn't that three hundred thousand people after us?

Fang and I kept that info to ourselves, changing the topic when Tally and Iggy asked what we had found.

I stretched my neck some and leaned back against the seat's cushion.

It was going to be a long day of driving.


	33. Chapter 32

Author's Note: Aleria14 (aka Bell) is a real person and so are all of the friends in the video. Therefore, I do not own them. It's their prize Chapter 32

"What's that?" I asked the twins while we stretched our legs at a rest stop, buying various things from vending machines and stocking up for the rest of the drive to West Virginia.

They looked up at me with green eyes, then at each other at the same time and turned the laptop to me. (The whole time, their auburn hair swung around their faces comically.)

Of course, they were on YouTube watching something titled "Pro-flock Interview: Australia."

I cocked an eyebrow, brushing an annoying curly lock of hair back, but listened anyway.

"_Now, Bell, you and your group of friends have been protesting around your school for the survival of these winged people, correct?"_

The girl looked really annoyed at the reporter, a bunch of other kids behind her with "GO FLOCK!" and whatever on their shirts. "_Duh. The flock deserve to live and it's fucking bullshit that there are bounty hunters in America trying to hunt down those kids with the lives they've had."_

"_And how do you know what lives they've had, young lady? You haven't necessarily met them,"_ The blonde reporter said.

The light-brunette girl, Bell, practically snarled. "_Just because I haven't met them does not mean that I don't know how bloody awful their lives have been!"_

The reporter seemed a tad bit taken aback. "_You've never met them so how can you claim that? Unless you have been in communication with them, Miss Bell."_

Bell opened her mouth, a fierce glare on her face, "_You fucking moron! I should put you in a damn dog crate—"_

Another girl put a restraining arm on Bell. "_Bell, don't leak out information to these baboons."_

"_They'll be all over them!" _A younger girl who could have been Bell's younger sister said.

The rest nodded, murmuring agreements.

"_How can they NOT know about Itex and The Facility, Raz?! Nothing can be worst than being chased over half of America, Heather! Jov, Shelby, Lola, I thought you both had more common sense than that!"_

The reporter jumped back in. "_So, am I to assume that you all are in contact with this 'flock' of seven winged beings and know precisely what their personal lives are?" _

"_You know what?"_ Lola said, standing in front of Bell. "_Piss off!"_

And with that all them turned around and stomped away from the cameras, some kids glaring at them and the video ended.

I looked at the laptop, eyes extremely wide. "So apparently, you guys still have a relatively big fan base. And followers."

I would have elaborated and mentioned how most of them were just obsessive stalkers, but, who knew? Like those Australian protesters, they might be genuinely concerned with us. Our well-being.

Whether or not the Hunters let us live or sold our wings and killed us.

"We told you Fang was going to be a cult leader some day," Nudge said, Cheeto crumbs falling onto the picnic table. (Of course, Tally twitched and wiped it into a napkin) "I mean, it was the one thing that made sense, right? Fang as a cult leader. Like when we were voting and I was voted most likely to kick flock member during sleep, and Gazzy was voted most likely to knock someone out with gas, it only makes sense that he was going to _actually_ become a cult leader with all the people on the blog!"

I sighed, thankful that her ramble wasn't _too _long this time. "Yeah. Anyways, pass the Fritos Angel."

She did, petting Total at the same time.

"You shouldn't say flock, Nudge," Fang said sternly. "The Hunters might make a connection."

Nudge blinked her now gold eyes, a bright orange Cheeto half way into her mouth. "Right, sure. Got it, Fang. Rightio. Ten-four! Roger that!"

Iggy brushed his hand against the table, muttering something like "ugly shade of brown" before grabbing his Blue Gatorade bottle. "Yeah, that makes sense..."

"Tally, trade you a bag of Salsa Sun Chips for a cinnamon bun," Gazzy said, looking at her with big round eyes.

Her lips nearly quirked into a smile as she pushed the bun towards him, taking the bag of chips and tearing them open then taking a sip of her Orange Fanta; twig-like fingers closing around the can.

A small wind ruffled our wigs and back packs, the scent of fresh dew immediately flooding my senses.

This part of being on the run in a car I could handle.

Just watching the wind rustle the green leaves, the summer heat, and seeing the flock care free for a few minutes paid off sometimes.

A strange pick 'n' mix family of kids smiling and laughing as if we were _normal_.

Something about that just made my heart all warm and fuzzy.

But then again, you always had to remember that we _weren't_ normal. That we were on the run and someone was bound to get hurt, get captured, someone was always going to cry, and we always had our lists of witty retorts as updated as possible.

I took a seat next to Fang, looking over his shoulder as he wrote out a blog entry. The one that I had told him and Tally to write. Just a double post.

Basically, it said "All comments saying that we should give ourselves up are going to be deleted, anything that involves cursing like a trucker will be deletes (mind the younger kids that read this blog, people!)" and stuff like that.

I told Tally to do the same and she just swatted the air while actually _listening_ to Nudge babble and responding on this notepad she had found.

Suddenly, Iggy froze, tilting his head one way, going silent midway through an explanation of denatured ethyl alcohol versus regular ethyl alcohol.

We all stopped froze for the slightest second, all conversation stopping but still moving around as if we were extremely into what we were doing.

I drummed the fingers of one of my hands on the wooden picnic table, eyes fixed on Fang's hand, noting the slight tremble of it.

"Some weird black things. Weaving through the trees. Kids aren't allowed into the woods at night anymore…"

"They instated a national curfew…"

"So weird, I hear this winged things look like regular kids…"

"Why would a bunch of child angels be sent to bring the Armageddon?"

"They can help with that whole global warming nonsense, they say…"

Not good.

Not good at all.

People discussing us while we're in plain sight is _definitely_ not good for us.

Did they have guns? Did they think we looked suspicious? Was this a trap?

I wasn't about to stick around to find out any of the answers to those questions.

I kept my outside completely blank and simply nudged my foot against Iggy's which sent a chain reaction in the younger kids.

Total hopped into my arms, Tally put all the unopened bags of food and cans of soda in her pack where she had some more food just in case, Angel and Nudge walked to the truck putting on very convincing smiles and talking about American Idol.

Iggy continued on with his conversation with the Gasman, Tally on his other side, grabbing Gazzy's hand.

Fang and I were going to go straight after them when the pyro trio just stopped, going stiff as boards, all facing the big green forests of Kentucky.

My raptor vision focused in on the trees, eyes searching for something that might have—!

Thunder.

I hear thunder.

Reaching out to grab Fang's hand, I looked up at him, only noticing how his face had drained of color, emphasizing how gaunt and unhealthy he looked from this serum crap in their systems.

"Goblins," he mouthed, barely moving his lips.

And then, quicker than I thought possible, he was pulling me to the truck, Tally doing the same to Iggy and Gazzy ahead.

Both of their eyes were dark, wild, frantic; the blank face they put on completely shattered for that moment.

"Tally! Quit it! The hunters over there are noticing!" Iggy hissed, trying to wrench his wrist from her grip.

"We need to get out of here," Fang muttered darkly, taking my pack and closing the door after Iggy was pulled in by Tally. Fang jogged around the truck and jumped in quickly. (The subtext people? "We need to get out of here, _I don't want to end up back there again_. _I don't want to be in a cage again._")

I climbed into the driver's seat and turned on the truck, pulling out slowly.

"What are those hunters and people thinking, Ange?" I asked calmly.

Angel gently stroked Total's fur after I handed him to her. "Most of them weren't hunters. Some of them wanted to pull out their guns. And the others were thinking if we were just a bunch of crazy kids…"

"The complete insanity of it all," Total said. "To think that someone as noble as me would be on the run with you kids."

"No one's stopping you from leaving," Iggy snapped.

"Ah, but I cannot. I must stay and protect you poor children! You will never survive without me gallantly saving you all!"

Tense snorts and snickers all around. Besides Fang who had ducked out of the conversation and was typing furiously on his laptop.

"Total, the most you could ever do is bite some ankles and sic your fleas on the Goblins," Gazzy pointed out, giving a shaky grin.

"Ingrates! You are all ingrates!"

"And how many times does he pull _that_ one on us?" Iggy murmured moving around some in the back seat, most likely to sling his arm somewhere over Tally.

"Don't worry, Total," Angel said sweetly, petting Total's fur. Tally appeared over her seat (Iggy's arm falling away, to my slight amusement), reaching down with a slightly trembling hand to scratch between the Scottie's ears. "Me, Nudge and Tally appreciate you."

"Nudge, Tally and I," I corrected, getting on the interstate and accelerating. A lot.

-

Tally felt…bad.

Horribly so.

Not the whole "make her want to crawl in a hole and die" type of bad, more like the uncomfortable bad.

Sure, the fire had returned, but she was keeping up with ignoring it, trying to concentrate on everyone's heartbeats.

"Still not asleep, Talon?" Max asked quietly from the front.

Talon reached up to her shoulder to tap it No.

"Makes sense," she went on. "You keep falling asleep at weird times."

Talon shrugged and pointed towards the wheel.

"No. I think I can handle another hour."

Tally cocked an eyebrow and pointed at the wheel again, this time with a bit more force.

"I can _handle_ it, Tally."

Tally shrugged, leaning her head back on Iggy's shoulder, closing her eyes.

Iggy shifted, taking a deep breath. "You guys are loud," he mumbled groggily.

_Only Max. And only because your senses are enhanced. Go to sleep.  
_

He hummed, and she felt the little vibrations in his chest. "Night, Tally."

_Night Iggy, love ya._

She felt him shift again, this time to duck down and pressed his lips against her hair, muttering so low she barely caught it, "Me too."

She held back the urge to ask "You love you too? How sexist pig of you."

Instead, she made herself comfortable and tried to fall asleep.

-

Of course, she didn't fall asleep.

Noooo, things just _had_ to be difficult.

She didn't stay wide awake, but she was drifting between consciousness and it when the sun started searing the back of everyone's eye lids and they woke up.

Fang turned to look at her from the driver's seat. (When did they stop for Max and him to switch off? Hadn't she offered? Many times? Must've been a second-in-command and leader thing. Or an "I favor my boyfriend over his annoying twin sister" type thing. Either made sense to Talon.)

She cocked her head to one side questioningly. What did he want?

"Get some food," he muttered.

_Well, there goes the whole "twins have telepathy" myth. Right down the toilet, down the pipes and into the sewage system with rats and repulsive things, aren't here crocodiles down there too?_

Iggy groaned quietly, "Tally. Keep the mental spew down to a minimum in the morning."

She blinked. _Okay, but that doesn't really answer my questions now does it?_

Talon pulled her bag into her lap, minding the fact that Gazzy was leaning against her side in an effort to get the heck away from the drooling Nudge.

_What do you want for breakfast? Special K Strawberry Protein Bar? Gatorade? Nacho Doritos?_

"Nothing breakfast-y in there? Or at least, that might _sound_ like a breakfast food?" Iggy asked, facing the ceiling of the car while twirling some hair in his finger.

_Nah. I don't think they sell McDonald's breakfast burritos in a vending machine, Ig. _

"There's an idea. Why don't we stop at a McDonald's or something?"

"Cause," Max said, yawning and stretching her arms over her head. "We have perfectly good food in the packs. Stop being picky, Iggy."

_Heh, that rhymes…_Tally thought randomly, making sure that none of the chocolate left the bottom of her pack, and handed out some junk food to everyone who was awake.

"Wow, who are you now, Tally?" Iggy asked sarcastically. "Dr. Seuss?"

_Who? No. I was just pointing out that Iggy and picky rhyme. Do you have a fever or something?_

Iggy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Such a dummy sometimes."

She grinned faintly before eating her own breakfast.

But all dark thoughts of Goblins, Bounty Hunters and the Facility lingered.


	34. Chapter 33

**A/N: Sorry. Would have been out earlier today, but mom got a migraine and we had to go to the hospital (where I broke out in hives just because of the antiseptic smell) and I am buried in homework and chores and running for Secretary at my school. Review please.**

Chapter 33

Sadly, we had to ditch our wonderful truck when we got to the outskirts of Kentucky. (Fang, Iggy and I all glared at Total when he started to say a _looong_ parting sonnet to it; something about "noble mechanical steed" while Angel just plucked him off the ground and we all took to jumping in the air.)

See, we had spotted quite a few cops eyeing our car, and call it paranoia or whatever, but I took it as a sign.

Hence why we were stretching our wings for the first time in _days_ and fooling around, and being as carefree as kids on the run can be.

The twins were silently "talking" with each other; Iggy was teasing Gazzy to no end ("Oh! C'mon! How can I chea—win against you at Eye-Spy?! Wait! I know! I see a cloud over there!" "There's nothing there, Iggy!")

Nudge was babbling with Angel about something or another, Total jumping in occasionally.

This left me on my own, simply thinking to myself.

And if you know me, then you know this is something completely horrible for someone who has the potential to worry as much as I do.

And I mean _worry_.

From the basic, shelter, safety and food, to more complex stuff.

Like trying to figure out how the heck to get around the newest restrictions.

It turns out that on top of the National Curfew instated recently, that they also made it so that you had to have some papers stating that you had "your back examined and physically evaluated for the existence of wings by a certified doctor or hospital"

Consequences to _not_ having those dumb, flimsy pieces of paper?

Thrown into the slammer and questioned. (Goblins, no doubt.)

So I was working out a game plan for us.

They didn't mention that certain places were doing it, so I could assume that just about any guy with a whitecoat could check.

_Good deductive reasoning, Maximum._

I winced, _Oh, so you came back? How was your sunny vacation home in Hawaii? Me? No, I've been through hell and back multiple times. In fact, I'm on my way there. Again._

_No need for the heavy sarcasm, Maximum,_ said the Voice. _You have not needed my help thus far._

I blinked, _And so the whole compliment there was necessary?_

_Yes. I am making sure that you are on the correct track._

I rolled my eyes.

Stupid fortune cookie crap.

Since when was it my chaperone?

Right then, since any place could give out the papers…than couldn't we just break in somewhere and steal the papers? Forge some signatures and crap?

_Precisely. Just continue thinking outside the box, Maximum._

_It's Max,_ I snapped.

No answer.

Typical.

I looked down, sing my raptor vision to figure out if we were anywhere near a city or something.

Which, fortunately, we were right over one. "Guys! Going Down!"

We all landed one after the other, running to a stop between some trees right outside some city boundaries.

Out of habit, my eyes wandered to the twins, making note of the slight flush in their cheeks, how they were breathing. This is something I've been doing a lot lately, since they just _refuse_ to say when they feel bad or something.

Once I was satisfied with my inspection I turned to the rest of the flock. "Okay, guys. We are going to get those papers."

"What papers?" Gazzy asked.

"The ones that say we don't have wings," Angel answered helpfully, tugging at a strand of black hair.

"Oh."

"So what's the plan, chief?" Iggy asked, his pale hand wandering to his bulging pocket, a grin teasing his lips.

"Sorry, no bombs this time, Iggy," I said, snickering at how suddenly his face fell.

"Then what is the plan?" Fang persisted.

I turned to him, my eyes locking on his smoldering ones. (What would have been brown to dark brown now hazel to blue.) "We're just going to sneak in, make sure the coast is clear, get the papers and get out before anyone gets a chance to yell 'birdkid!'"

Nudge shivered some, "You know, when we were still going to that school in West Virginia, I actually learned about how kids and people were accused of being witches and so if you didn't like someone you could yell 'witch!' and pretend they were pinching you when you were across the room and they'd send you to the stake or drown you or something. Do you think it's going to be the same way for us? That would really suck. I don't want to be burned and ashy when I die. I want to die in my sleep and—"

Fang gave her a warning look and she quieted instantly.

"Everyone get the plan?" I asked one last time, for reassurance.

Nods all around.

"'Kay then, we'll wait around for night…" I muttered. "Do whatever you want—as long as it's not dangerous—for now."

-

Tally had been picking at a loose string in her cargo pants for thirty minutes.

How did she know it had been thirty minutes without anyone having a watch?

She had counted.

And that spoke a _lot_ about how bored she was.

Sure, she understood how Max wanted them to go "under the cover of night," but did night have to be so freaking long away? Couldn't time jump ahead an hour or two so she wouldn't be so _bored_?

She couldn't continue the sort-of conversation she had started with her twin on the way to whatever city she was now sitting in since he had taken a leaf from her book and lead Max away from the clearing.

Did she want to know what her leader and her twin were doing?

_Gosh_ no. He was her _twin_. Meaning she only had to squint a bit to see _herself_ in him.

And she didn't want to know what her kissing Max would look like…no, never. She'd stick to her blind pyromaniac, thank you very much.

Speaking of her pyromaniac boyfriend…

He was busily explaining something that would put Tally to sleep (she could handle the simple stuff…but anything more and expect her to nod off…why _else_ was she sleeping on him so often? Sometimes it was too much…but she guessed that was how he felt when she went on long rambles. And he _didn't_ have the option to fall asleep as a way _out_.) to Gazzy.

Nudge and Angel were a hop, skip and jump away, playing something in the dirt and Total was sniffing things, muttering something she _really_ didn't care about under his breath.

Ugh…

-

Fang walked really close behind me while we casually snuck through the town at nine.

To be honest, I couldn't even think coherently.

The most that I had done was nod dumbly when Fang had suggested we break into the doctor's office at nine since the businesses were on orders to close by 8: 50 to be home by the 9: 15 curfew.

Of course, he's told me that after he had short-circuited my poor, torture brain and then said that stupid stuff I told him when I was high off of Valium back to me.

I blinked, narrowly avoiding a flickering streetlamp.

_Look at me_, I thought. _The invincible Maximum Ride being some cow-eyed idiot all because of something some_ guy _told her_.

_Who told you what, Max?_

My head whipped around to give Angel a half-hearted glare. _What have I told you about reading my mind, Angel?_

_Not to. But I'm curious. Oh! Wait! I know._ She giggled.

Tally shot her a questioning glance then looked at me, then Fang and back at me, this time giving me one of the full blow smiles that she usually reserved for Iggy and Gazzy.

I glared at her.

"Tally. What's with all the mention congratulations—oh!" Iggy exclaimed, a laughing grin attaching to his face.

I resisted the urge to kick him in the shin.

Now only Nudge, Gazzy, Total and Fang were out of the loop.

"If that doesn't show that you're both twins, than I don't know what does," Iggy said lightheartedly, completely immune to my glare.

"Less talking, more sneaking," I hissed right as Fang opened his mouth.

But that didn't stop Tally from smirking when Fang turned his eyes on her. She put her hands in front of her chest, pushing her thumbs and curled pointer fingers together, forming a heart.

"Oh," said Fang quietly, and all of a sudden a large, warm hand was holding mine.

I felt my irritation slip away for a second, all the nerves in that hand completely outshining the rest….until we came to the lone building with "Carson, M.D." in big neon green letters.

"No cameras in the parking lot," Gazzy said.

"Good, Iggy, got your lock picking kit?" I asked, turning to the giant pyro.

"Always," he said with a grin, one finger hooked around Tally's belt loop.

Iggy's skilled pale hands made quick work of the locks, slapping a high five with the Gasman when he set a new personal record.

All the while, Nudge was peering though a teeny gap in the open door, then waved me over. "There's some cameras in the top right corner of the room."

I nodded, joining her at the door and waving my hand minutely, watching the little lens turn quickly to the opposite side of the room.

"Tally, do you think you can freeze that camera?"

I could almost see the cogs turning in her head, sparring a glance at her brother and Iggy, before she nodded hesitantly.

She stepped into the room for a second, before her head popped back out and she beckoned her brother to her.

They were gone for a minute or two before Talon was back, this time motioning for us to follow her.

We went through some winding hallways, passing a ton of diplomas and countryside portraits hung on mint green walls. (Which didn't go without a grimace from Iggy; he said it reminded him of too-minty-toothpaste.)

Then Fang appeared, shaking his head and pulling Angel and me to the front.

My heart accelerated, beating hollowly as our eyes landed on two darting blurs, both at ease in the dark as us and eyes glowing like a cat's in a black hole of a face.

_I can't control them, Max…_Angel's frustrated voice drifted through my head, ridiculously childish sounding with the horror-movie atmosphere. (Just waiting for some tortured violins to come to a crescendo now.)

Fang paused for a moment reaching in to his pocket and bringing out a wicked looking folding knife.

He gave me a significant look. I nodded slowly, getting my own pocket knife out.

In less than a moment, Tally was with us, pulling her own knife from her boot.

The smaller of the two twins turned to me, motioning to the ecru colored carpet and pressing a finger flush against her lips just as Fang disappeared from view. She shook her dark hair from the Auburn wig and tossed it to Nudge. (Only then did I notice that the twins were in their usual black clothes.)

I couldn't see Fang at all, and only saw the metallic glint of Tally's weapon as she slinked ahead of me, but I made a point of padding quickly and quietly behind Tally.

The Goblins paused, clawed hands suddenly swinging in an arc around them.

I held my breath.

And then one lunged straight at me.

I ducked out of instinct, spinning in the same movement, leg kicking out.

My ears barely registered the sound of struggle on the other side of the hallway, or the sudden burn in my arm that came with being slashed open.

No.

I was more preoccupied with my knife plunging into the Goblin's eye, and watching with sick satisfaction as glowing red goop came spurting out, splattering my face.

The Goblin thrashed wildly, getting a good swipe right bellow the junction between my shoulder blades and wings before I smashed the weapon into it's remaining eye.

As soon as it stopped moving, I turned, searching the room for Fang and Tally, only to find the latter on the floor, with her head resting on her bent knees, only just starting to move jerkily.

My heart lurched and I search for Fang in through the dark shadows.

There _must_ be someone looking out for us because I see the other Goblin kicked on top of the one I killed, in a disgusting parody of sleep.

Fang strides over to me, the strange wild dark light I had seen in his eyes a while ago fading again (I don't miss the nervous barely-there shaking of his fists for a moment) and gives me a once over before almost smiling, a clear sign of how much has nerves were shot.

"You okay, Tally?" I call after hearing the rest of the flock murmuring nervously.

She rakes a hand though her goop painted hair before nodding (I saw the three bloody gashes on her forehead), getting off the floor.

"Are you children all right?" asked Total, peeking his head around the corner than hiding behind it again.

I choke down a laugh.

The dog, the freaking dog, asking if we were all right.

Maybe it was the fact that I was still on an adrenaline high, but that seemed intensely funny at the moment.

Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Total and Angel stumbled into the hallway.

-

Tally hovered by the door, ignoring the dead bodies, the pain and focusing her energy on keeping a lookout with Gaz and Iggy.

She wanted _out_.

She wanted a _shower_.

She wanted to be clean. (Actually, she had wanted to make everyone strip down and give her the clothes and make them bathe in disinfectant while she burned the clothes.)

She had a list with a ton of things she wanted.

_Finally_, she thought when she heard Nudge printing out the papers, and then Max forging the signature. (Total sniffing around "helpfully.")

She zipped her jacket up to keep her hands busy.

_You know what I want?_ Tally thought, Iggy jerked his chin to indicate he was listening, curling some of her hair around his finger.

_I want to stay at a hotel. Have a nice long shower…and chocolate. Can't go wrong with chocolate. Maybe pizza. Hey! We can get boneless chicken wings too…and oh, oh, we can get cookies for Max, but she might choke ogling my brother so much—ugh—have I mentioned how uncomfortable it is to have your twin making out with your leader? Right, getting off topic, anyways, getting a hotel now that we have these dinky papers shouldn't be too hard and—_

She stopped when she felt his hand skirting her forehead, over her new wounds, then his thumb traced her bottom lip. "I'm sure we will…"

Despite being in pain, feeling extremely disgusting and jittery, Talon's breath still stalled at his touch. Her eyes wandered to his lips.

"Ugh! Guys! Stop with the sapping spit! I want to keep my lunch down!" Gazzy said indignantly, pretending to gag.

Iggy had him in a headlock in the next three seconds, rubbing his knuckled furiously against the Gasman's head while Tally laughed.

Even if two dead Goblins were not two yards away from her, she was bleeding and they were meant to be quiet—she still couldn't help but admire how much those two lightened up the situation.


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Okay, so standing in the rain wasn't exactly what Tally had in mind when she thought "I want to get" cleaned, and all thoughts that Nudge had previously crammed into her head about it being extremely romantic to kiss in the rain exited her mind and were replaced a nagging one that taunted her about colds and if there immune systems could stand against pneumonia.

So, instead of enjoying the rain in a romantic fashion with her boyfriend like Max was, she worked herself into a frenzy; making sure all the mud and stuff was washed off and her hair was free of goop before she patted her backpack to make sure the blanket was still there.

Iggy was in a similar state of mind, having a mini-meltdown with Gazzy about their bombs when Nudge poked him so hard in the chest, he had to steel himself not to look down to see if she had punctured a lung. "What the heck are you doing?" she asked icily.

The tall teenager froze. Nudge _never_ used that tone unless someone had pissed her off. Extremely so. Like when Angel was a baby and had barfed on all of the driving magazines in the house.

"Er…making sure we have some form of protection when Goblins come?" he asked hesitantly.

He could practically hear her roll her eyes, "Shouldn't you be over there with Tally? You know, your _girlfriend?_ She's injured, she was nearly knocked out, you know. Plus it's _raining_ and you can take a leaf out of Fang and Max's books."

Iggy blinked. "Uh, I don't think so? Sounds like she's on a cleaning spree over there. She might make us all strip down butt-naked to bleach our clothes. And in case you're still wondering, I can't _see_ Max and Fang, so yeah, Nudge," he said bitingly nodding in Gazzy's direction when he tapped his hand.

"I _know_ you can't see. But haven't you ever heard? Kissing in the rain in _romantic_. And, yes, you're blind, but that doesn't mean you dumb, deaf and mute as well," okay, and now Iggy was _positive_ she had a scowl on her face.

He shrugged, "Nudge, people need space. 'Cause, haven't _you_ heard? Distance makes the heart grow fonder. And I can't _believe_ I just said this. What the hell is wrong with me? I sound like—like such a damn sap."

Nudge sighed, shuffling her feet from what he heard. "Yeah, I know. I'm just trying to help. I can only help you guys because Max and Fang would most likely tear our heads off for _trying_ to help them, even if they are clueless sometimes…and I guess you guys are better off, even though you fight almost as much as Max and Fang, since you've been together almost a year longer than them."

Iggy's brows furrowed, "We fight that much? I don't remember."

Nudge snorted, "Okay then, you didn't see most of it. Back at Dr. Martinez's house, she almost threw a frying pan at your head when you kept announcing her thoughts."

"Huh," Iggy smirked.

"And then when you called her crazy when she was hearing the Goblins and things, she went really quiet on you, and Angel told me she was thinking about freezing you underwater to see if you lived."

This time, Iggy winced, "That's not nice."

"Not to mention when you make Fang describe other girls to you."

"Okay, so we fight. But not as big or much as Max and Fang."

Nudge snickered, "Whatever you say Iggy."

Just as she was going to walk away, Iggy shot his arm out and held onto her shoulder, "You're a lot like her, you know?"

He didn't see it, but he almost felt her sun-shiny smile. "Thanks! That means a lot!"

Across from them, Tally had watched the exchange with curious eyes, wiping away some water when it splashed onto her face, wincing when she brushed over the cuts on her forehead.

She chanced a glance at her brother and Max, only to look away with her nose wrinkled. _Ugh, did not need to see that. _

"Didn't need to see what?" Iggy asked over the pitter-patter of the warm summer rain, having walked over to her once he was sure she was out of her cleaning fit.

_My brother sucking face_, she shuddered. _You'd be this disgusted if _your_ twin was kissing Max as well. _

Iggy put a hand to his chin, stroking an imaginary goatee, "What do the French call that? A Ménage-a-trois?"

Tally blushed furiously, smacking him multiple times with closed fists, _That is _so_ gross you complete pervert! Ugh! I will have _nightmares_ for life! My eyes are unpure! I blame you!_

She continued on her mini-tyrant until Iggy asked, "How the heck do _you_ know what that means?"

She didn't know her face could get any warmer, _Er…I blame Dane Cook entirely. And being sick. Ask Fang. Better yet, don't. I don't want him to get any ideas. _

Iggy laughed, slinging his arm around her shoulders, the icky hair from the wig sticking to him.

She frowned, reaching up to free his scruffy hair and let it breathe, her fingers skating over his forehead and making him blink curiously.

Of course, by "reach" she meant _reach._ _You've grown on me again. What are you? Half a foot taller than me_, _now? Jeez, slow down ya big giant. _

Iggy wrapped an arm around her waist as she stood on her toes to get to his wig. "Can't help it. And aren't _you_ tall as well? Aren't most girls your age five feet tall?"

She took off the wig, running her hand through his hair. _That's them. I feel just fine at a healthy two inches under six feet. But _you_ Mister, need to slow down. You and Fang are making me and Max seem like little fragile girls around you both! _

He turned his head so that his lips brushed against her neck when he talked. "Maybe we _like_ our girls to look a bit delicate next to us."

_Yeah, delicate, so that you won't seem as completely wimpy when we play dirty._

Iggy choked a bit, "_Now_ look who's being a sexist pig."

Tally grinned, pulling in to leave a chaste kiss on his lips. _Uh-huh, certainly not me. _

And she untangled herself from him, nearly bouncing away from him. _I wanna throw ice cubes on Fang and Max, see if they fall for the whole "Iggy's fault" thing again._

Iggy balked, jogging up to her and trying to convince her against trying to sic Max on him without him having provoked her for once.

-

_Sooo_, we had our papers, I had my nice little lip-lock session with Fang and our next order of business? Figure out how to sneak into West Virginia, back into the Facility, get the info on any other locations and get the hell _out_.

One of those cases of "easier said than done."

Why?

Because a ton of mishaps could happen, tiny or big, that could jeopardize out "master" plan.

So, who had to make a zillion and one contingency plans to prevent this?

You guessed it; _me_.

Not that I _don't_ like having so much pressure on me.

Not that I don't like having the fact that if _I_ screw up someone can die.

Or maybe I'm being melodramatic and turning into one of the younger kids?

Nah, chances of _that_ happening were about as possible as us suddenly just _loosing_ our wings.

I sighed, my surroundings bleeding back into focus around me.

We were right outside of West Virginia, just camping out at the local mall, inhaling the wonderful smell of cinnamon pretzels, shoe leather and trying to be inconspicuous since the forests and places were completely overrun by Bounty Hunters.

"SAVE THE FLOCK!" a girl yelled from a monitor, causing all of us to freeze.

I gave a cursory glance at everyone, making sure that we were all in our disguises before I jerked my head at where a large crowd was gathering.

"We all need to rebel! This is getting ridiculous!" the girl with dark brown hair said from the monitor, a bright pink headset standing out and bringing attention to all her ear piercings. "Why the hell should the flock have to _hide_ because of some stupid, idiot scientists disguised as the bad guys are trying to get them?! They've gotten out of things all of the time! And we've helped! Why the heck should we _not_ help this time?!"

"What relationship do you have with the Flock, Miss Kim?" an adult man said from the center of the crowd.

I saw Tally sitting on a wall, "pulling" up the younger kids to it so that they could see easier (they were all giving little four foot hops, just putting on a show), than watching Iggy jump up by himself like a monkey.

"My relationship to them is _you mum!_" she yelled, her eyes glittering with mirth when the guy turned a puce color.

"Timeless comeback," Iggy muttered.

"More like stale," Fang countered.

"I agree with Fang, but it _does_ sound better when said with an accent…" I muttered pensively.

"Kimothy Kerosene is right!" A live speaker said, wearing a vibrant blue shirt with wings on the back and "PRO-FLOCK!!!" written in big block letters. "Why _shouldn't_ we help them?! This can be just another government conspiracy! They've tried hiding a bunch of other things! The Facility, The School, Itex and the Institute for Higher Living!!"

As the girl said this, a bunch of other kids, from all races, walks of life and everything started passing out t-shirts to people who said something along the lines of pledging their loyalty to us.

I nearly burst into laughter.

Sure, everything was touching, really, but it _was_ turning into some sort of pseudo-cult.

And the cherry on top? When everyone in the flock did the little pledge thing (I have _no_ idea how Tally convinced them…maybe Angel helped her out some?) and got a t-shirt, we found a little slip of paper on the inside with the address and description of some place.

I looked at my flock and decided then and there.

We were going.

If only to see what the "resistance" and these people were doing…

-

Iggy let his hand brush against the warehouse, frowning when his fingers caught on some rust and then a dull gray color flashed into sight.

Bleh, it was such a blank color.

_This place is huge…_

"Details?" he whispered into Tally's ear as they made they slipped into the warehouse, a roar of kids reaching his ears and making him wince.

_Huge. Like, twice the size of Publix minus the vegetables and stuff. There's some rafters up along the top, so I guess we could fly up there and watch it all like in…what was that movie? Something bears…Anyways, crates up and down the aisles, some stuff pulled together at the back, a stage I guess, and a ton of kids squirming and yelling and wriggling…and oh God I _will_ get dizzy watching this….jeez._

Iggy grinned while Tally peered around.

She was being completely honest, and rambling.

But what could she help it?

Iggy had his hand on the small of her back, almost protectively, and had her hand clamped on Gazzy's shoulder as they maneuvered around the fidgeting kids.

Max made a sudden turn and nearly blended into the shadows as she found a nice alley between two stacks of crates where all of them could watch.

The kids went on with all the rallying, the ranting but this time they were delving into things that they had discovered with some help from the blogs.

"Who here has ever seen a Goblin?" asked the current speaker, a boy of about seventeen, who looked almost as tall as Iggy.

A ton of kids raised there hands.

"Holy…" Fang whispered, then pointed out into the sea of people with the hand that had mine enclosed in it. "Look at those kids, some of them are seriously beat up…And there _parents_ let them do this?"

A kid in the back of the crowd wheeled on him, "Not all of us have 'rents all over our cases and loving us like _some people_, spic."

Fang blinked before opening his mouth, "Look, man, I wasn't insinuating anything. Just saying. Same position over here."

The kid rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever spic."

"Shequan! Quit throwing around your name calling like it were some basketball!" a girl said, marching up to the boy and smacking him.

"Shut up, Latoya, this ain't got nothing to do with you…" he muttered turning around and marching off with the girl.

I blinked, "What the hell was that?"

Fang said, "Just some kids."

I rolled my eyes but then tuned back into the speaker, half listening to them talk about ways of getting around the Goblins, how to contact us to help, the best plan of action.

And to be frank (thought I don't know who Frank is), it was completely mind-blowing how resourceful and intelligent some of these kids were. Like when Latoya and Shequan started rambling on about military stuff that made my head spin some, at least until some kids said "They're in the ROTC, y'know, soldiers in training, high school and all that stuff."

Tally leaned over to say something to Fang when something I completely didn't expect happened.

The whole place was flooded with hulking Goblins.

-

**A/N: Been nominated for best OC on the yolasite mrawards. The "Total" award. Vote? And please review. Already working on next chapter. **


	36. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Everyone in the flock looked to Max for some sort of signal, never missing how she looked over everyone in the room and how they were all coming up with some sort of weapon.

"Fight or flight?" Total asked, his head popping out of Fang's backpack.

Max looked up at the warehouse and Tally thought she heard her muttering "Aerial attack."

Max whirled on them, "Okay, we're fighting! Try and help out as many kids as you can, and take down as many Goblins as you can! Remember! The eyes!"

And that was all the incentive anyone really needed, the Pyro Trio melted into the crowd, pushing through to the Goblins and immediately attacking, yelling out tips on killing and everything.

"Can we use the Shy Guy, Iggy?" Gazzy asked, ducking and tackling a girl with a flimsy looking plastic bat before she was nailed.

Iggy grunted as he landed a roundhouse kick on another Goblin, destroying one of its mechanical eyes. "Maybe, Gasser! Just don't aim for any kids!"

Tally gave the Goblin she was fighting the coldest look she could summon within herself (which didn't take much effort considering she had the slight burning twang in her chest and head to remind her) and managed to slide under it clap her hands down on it's eyes, sending the goop spurting over a bunch of kids.

_They need to get _out_ of here! They don't know what they're doing!_ Tally thought frantically, shoving another kid out of the way and taking the full force hit of the Goblin's claws against her stomach. _Ow! Dammit!_

"Tally! You all right?!" Iggy called, side stepping and punching another Goblin.

_Yeah, I am. Just protecting these humans is going to get us _killed_ unless we figure out something to do. And quick, _she thought, charging at another experiment, surprising herself when her arm didn't sink through when she socked it in the mouth.

And from the muffled choking sound it made, it didn't anticipate her hitting it either.

But she took advantage of it and slammed the heel of her foot to its chest and then gave two kids a nod of approval when they smashed its eyes with some pipes.

She limped away, looking for Iggy and the rest of the flock through the crowd, blood falling into her eye.

"There's more outside! We can set the bomb off out there!"

"But how are we going out there?!"

Tally gritted her teeth and staggered when she felt the distinct tearing in her back, her vision turning red with rage when she felt the cold air washing over her back and wings, another knock taking her wig straight off.

She whipped around like some avenging valkyrie, fully aware of the way her exposed wings and back were getting so much attention, and took an eight foot leap onto the Goblin, smashing and eye and watching the glass shards fly around her like in slow motion, red goop spurting all over the place.

But like always, the Goblins started thrashing, flinging her off.

She landed on her feet skidding but went straight back to it, getting it's other eye with her elbow, feeling an animalistic surge of pleasure fill her veins when she saw it fall to the ground motionlessly.

She still heard the Gasman and Iggy asking out loud how to throw their bombs.

_Iggy! They've seen my wings! Just fly dammit!_ She thought, unfurling her large wings and giving two good flaps to get her airborne.

"Holy shit! It's one of the flock!"

"Who's that?! Is it Max?!"

"No! It's got to be Talon!"

"Maybe it's Fang!"

"You nitwit! It's clearly a _girl!_"

"Lizzie! Oh my God! It's Talon Ghost!"

"Holy crap! And that's Iggy and the Gasman over there!"

Tally bit the inside of her cheek to keep down her pain before she swooped over the dark mass of squirming fighters and started helping a girl fight.

"Tally?!" the girl yelled. Lizzie, they had called her.

Tally jerked her head 'yes' before ducking and swiping the feet out of the Goblin in the same fluid movement.

Lizzie grabbed her steel baseball bat and swung, the bat going through its skull and popping straight out, completely in tact. The eye rolled on the blood sodden ground, the red shining until some teenaged boy stomped on it.

The Goblin's mouth strained against the stitches, revealing the darkness inside as it made a painful sounding screech.

Talon winced, smashing its other eye with the heel of her boot when she noted grimly the missing skin on her knuckles.

Lizzie smashed the red eye with her sneaker, making to look at Tally but she was already gone, off in the air with the rest of the flock.

-

How many times was she going to say this?

As many times as she attempted to do the _right_ thing, she just screwed up _more_. Just a fact; it was like how she _knew_ if she felt a festering itch on a wound, it was infected.

She had flown up to the catwalk, tucked her wings in before she smashed through the gritting pane of window that was hardly three by five with her elbow, the Gasman and Nudge in tow.

She hadn't really paid attention to whether or not the rest of the flock was with them when Iggy set of the bomb somewhere and that was her mistake.

There was a bitter taste in her mouth as she opened her mouth and breathed in the earthy smell of trees and moss, the unsettling rattling of leaves, the cold air hitting her scantily clad back.

And _because_ there was a bitter taste in her mouth, she didn't bend down to kiss the ground.

Not to mention it was positively _filthy_ and was that some sort of _animal poo_ over there?! Gross.

She frowned, leading Nudge and Gazzy away from the area, keeping her ears open for the signature flapping of the rest of the flock, the yapping of one Shakespeare-wordy Scottie.

Somehow one of those good-thing bad-thing situations.

Good because she _knew_ they were all right; bad because she just _knew_ she was going to screw up again somehow.

Tally looked around the forest, and when she was satisfied that they _weren't_ infested with hunters (or at least that _section_ of the woods) she pulled off the remains of her gray sleeveless shirt and started ripping it to pieces. Not really caring that her top half was only covered by a purple bra.

She pulled Gazzy to her softly, washing away the blood on a nasty looking cut he had on his arm with her water bottle and her sleeve. Then she staunched the blood with a strip of her shirt.

She _tried_ to ignore the bruises on his face and peppering his body and went to Nudge, repeating the process.

The silence was killing her slowly.

She shook her head and looked over her shoulder, trying to see the wound where she felt blood dripping from.

She scowled and simply wetted some strips and wrapped them around the small of her back, ignoring the rusty smell she had grown so used to over her short fifteen years.

"What do we do now?" Gazzy asked Tally.

She resisted the urge to look at someone else for an answer, and the urge to shrug as well.

Instead, she tried miming out her plan of action, trying to be as animated in her gesticulations as she usually was.

_We find the rest of the flock._

She popped out her contacts, and stowed them in her bag, (what use did she have for them now? Her wig was lost in the scuffle, and even _more_ people knew about what they looked like. It was a complete fail-fail situation.) and then pulled the "PRO-FLOCK" t-shirt out of her bag.

"But _how_ are we going to find them?" Nudge began. "I mean, they can be _anywhere_ right now. For all we know they were _captured_ and we're the only ones left on the outside."

"Then we save them," Gazzy said. "We never split up. Remember? Max and Fang promised to never split up."

Tally squelched the urge to ask when the heck that had happened and settled for shaking her head like a dog so that her bangs fell into her eyes, then pulled the rest into a loose ponytail.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. _What to do next?_

Talon remained silent, waiting hopefully for her boyfriend's voice to tease her, to make a sarcastic remark or something along those lines.

But all that reached her ears was the wind whistling softly through the trees, and the distant thunder that marked how far away from the Goblins they had flown.

"What do we do now?" Gazzy repeated, turning to Fang's twin.

She fixed her eyes on him, then slowly to Nudge, before hefting her pack up…and then everything went blank.

Talon panicked.

She could feel her body.

She could hear her heart beating.

And she was well aware of all her thoughts.

But it was as if her consciousness had been pushed to the back of her mind and she was out of control.

Her body turned around jerkily before she forced herself to the front again.

"Tally! What's wrong?" Nudge asked; both her and Gazzy fisting her hoodie with wide eyes.

She blinked, _What the hell was that?_

Something had taken control of her.

She thought long and hard, flashing Gazzy and Nudge what she hoped was a reassuring smile before she surreptitiously pulled her hand out to balance herself against a tree, the bark biting into her scraped palms.

She trapped her lower lip between her teeth, biting lightly.

There was only one person she knew that could control someone so effectively.

The first person who ever even attempted to communicate with her.

_Angel?_

-

"Where _are_ they?" Iggy asked, almost scowling. "Weren't they behind us when we ran away?"

"No," Fang said. "Tally was up on the catwalk that went around the warehouse. Nudge and Gazzy followed her."

"At least we know they weren't captured," I muttered. _Rather, at least we know they weren't captured at _that_ point. They might've been ambushed or something._

"Fat load of good that does us," Iggy said, raking his hand through his hair, and then reaching up to pick at a band-aid on his cheek.

"Just chill out, Iggy," Fang told him, taking out the contacts and his wig with a look of disgust. "They'll turn up."

I turned around to look at Angel and check if she was all right, but she had this glazed eyed look on her face.

"Angel?" I called, kneeling down to her level and placing my hands on her tiny shoulders.

She mumbled something under her breath and Total nudged her shin worriedly, not uttering a word.

After a few tense minutes in which both Fang and Iggy made there way over to us, Angel's eyes defrosted and she looked at us all with open confusion.

"I didn't know I could use my power when she was so far away…" she mumbled.

"What?" Iggy said.

"Nudge or Talon?" Fang asked, opening and closing his fists.

"Tally," Angel said, picking Total off the ground. "But I think she actually _fought back_ or something…usually, I make people _want_ to do what I tell them…but it was….weird…"

"Do you know where they are?" Fang asked calmly.

Angel wrinkled her nose in concentration for a moment before sighing, "No. She's out of my range again."

I nodded before getting back up, my hand still on her shoulder.

If Tally was going out of her range then that meant that we would have to walk in the direction she was going.

"Do you know which direction she was in, at least?" Iggy asked.

"No," Angel said slowly. "Mind controlling and reading doesn't come with a mental map, Iggy."

Iggy opened his mouth, to say something scathing probably, but closed it and his eyes, taking a deep breath.

At least _he_ was learning some form of self control.

-

Tally led Gazzy and Nudge into town, the smell of car exhaust and gasoline almost immediately assaulting her senses.

Nudge actually started coughing, waving her arm in front of her face, "Yuck, why can't these people just buy _newer_ cars? Or try to _fix _them"

Gazzy said, "Not everyone can afford it."

Nudge huffed, "I know. Just a thought, you know?"

Tally nodded, scanning the area carefully, the way Jeb had drilled her to at the Facility, and then the way Max had ground it into her head.

They never stopped moving, instead, Tally pulled out a piece of paper and wrote her plan out for Nudge to see and then showed Gazzy.

"Oh! That's sneaky!"

"And gross! Why do I have to do the voice?!"

Talon repressed the urge to roll her eyes and simply pointed at her scarred throat.

"Oh."

They gathered in an alley, crouching in the shadows as Nudge made sure none of Tally's wounds showed, going over what she would say.

The elder girl felt disgusted with the plan, but she would cope.

Movies had never failed her before, so she could rely on pick-pocketing some guy……

Which worked out pretty well.

She had taken the PRO-FLOCK shirt off and left her hoodie zipped up part way, showing the a tad bit of cleavage, and Nudge had practically beat Gazzy until he got the voice down. ("Think Madonna! Think Audrey Hepburn! Think Angelina Jolie!" "I don't _know_ those people!" "URGH!")

Fang's twin scouted out the people walking by, until she found one that _seemed _like a good vicitim.

He was an average looking man, in a pressed charcoal suit, five-o-clock shadow and slightly graying hair. But why had she chosen him of all people? Because she had caught him putting cash into the front pocket of his jeans.

_I feel like such a prostitute_…she thought as she flash the man a smile. "Hey, what's happenin' handsome?" Gazzy threw his voice, Tally moving her lips.

The man seemed to immediately take an interest, even though it was obvious Tally was _decades_ younger than him, no matter her stature. "Business," he nearly growled.

Tally winced internally but kept up the volleying.

When she had quickly stolen the money (tricking him with a scene she had sent him) she made to back away.

But the sleaze bag clamped a hand on her shoulder and ran his hand down her side.

And as soon as his hand ghosted over the curve of her butt, she reared her knee back and smashed it into his groin. _Frickin' pervert!_

With an indignant huff, Tally turned around, completely satisfied with the fact that the man was now writhing on the ground, whimpering in a pathetic high pitch voice.

And thanks to her _wonderful_ strength caused by genetic engineering, she probably just ensured that the perverts line had ended right there and then.

-

"What the hell is she doing?" Iggy asked aloud when he heard Tally's distinctive voice floating echoing in his head, _I feel like such a prostitute…_followed by _Frickin' pervert!_ two minutes later.


	37. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

_I'm fine Iggy,_ Tally thought, shifting her weight and keeping her wings tight against her back out of a newfound habit. Why did she suddenly find herself with the almost completely obsessive compulsive disorder-y urge to hide her wings or shield them?

She blamed the economy. (Or was it ecology?)

If it wasn't for the economy, or greedy people for that matter, people wouldn't want to shoot her dead just for her wings, or rather for the money that came from it. Wasn't there a Disney movie about that? Dr. Seuss something's Christmas special…whatever.

"You are _not_," Iggy muttered, running his hands over her face to check for any other injuries, light as a feather.

They had found them wandering around the edge of a forests, about to take off running when they spotted some suspicious characters.

Luckily, Angel had controlled them to the spot, creeping all three of them out.

"Jeez, Angel," Gazzy complained, somehow thinking along the same lines as Talon. "_Please_ don't do that again. That was so weird…"

Tally nodded only for her head to be turned by her chinny-chin-chin to face Iggy again as he continued his inspection. _Iggy, I am _fine_. Quit being such a worry-wart. _

"Liar," he grumbled, rubbing his finger beneath her bangs where she had a large gash. She flinched a bit and looked away from his piercing eyes when he aimed a glare at her, as if to say "And you were saying?"

Dang, he was getting good at speaking without words…(Oh no, did that mean they were turning into some weird alternate version of Max and Fang? UGH! No! Anything but that!

_Head wound. It's fine._

"You have a limp," he said frowning.

Tally rolled her eyes, _And you have a nasty looking bruise. We _all_ have war wounds, duh. _

But Iggy didn't really listen he was already getting some Peroxide from the first aide kit and brushing his hand over other things to figure out what the things were. (The little actions that forced her to remember that he was blind.)

Sighing, Tally let him fret over her. It wasn't as if she didn't positively baby him when it came to helping him out or anything.

"What's are next order of business, Captain Max?" Total asked, big black Scottie eyes staring up at her.

"…we get to the Facility," she said in that spacey way that meant she was either making up a plan or talking to the Voice at the same time.

Just as she was about to wrench away from Iggy, Tally felt a wave of exhaustion tackle her and nearly slumped onto her boyfriend's torso like some whimp. Glancing at her brother when she heard a twig snap under his foot, noting the way he discreetly brushed his hand against his chest then looked at his hand like it was some weird limb.

She gave her own hand a good hard look while Iggy tended to her forehead like the dedicated man-nurse he was.

She had actually managed to get through the Goblin's transparent ability to clock it. Had her brother as well?

Was this a side effect of the serum that had been torturing them for what seemed like ages but was really only a span of a week?

And most importantly, were they going to turn into some sort of…Goblin Hybrid?

The thought made goose bumps rise on Tally's skin.

She didn't want to look like those things.

No red eyes, no inky skin…no!

"Okay then," Max said, harshly yanking Tally out of her panicked thoughts. "Here's the plan. We're going to have to sneak in, and for that we'll have Fang—since you've been practicing moving with your power—and we have Nudge to hack into the computer, Iggy can pick any locks on the way there, get the info, get out and then you Pyros can have a bombfest."

"And after that?" Fang asked slowly.

Max frowned, her brows meeting together. "Then we either destroy the rest of the placed by ourselves or we figure out how to get people back on our side…"

"Sounds reasonable," Iggy said, pushing Tally lightly so that she would sit down on the stump behind her.

She rolled her eyes; he really _was_ going overboard with the whole concerned boyfriend thing.

Iggy jerked upward at the same time that Angel took a frantic glance into the woods they were in.

Max pulled Gazzy to his feet while Tally stumbled up, everyone straining their ears to try and hear whatever hellish noise Iggy had heard.

The lack of thunder-like sounds assured the twins that it wasn't Goblins but the clumsy tromping and poorly hidden whispers did tell them _who_ they were.

"Bounty Hunters…" Nudge muttered jumping to her feet, Max firmly pushing her to lead Gazzy and Angel out.

Talon handed Total to her, then picked up her pack as quiet as she could.

"Bandada, bezheet!" Max's whispered urgently.

Confusion clouded her mind at the strange words before everyone took off running, and then she sprinted behind them, well aware of the jubilant exclamations following them, the more clumsy running and then—

BANG! BANG!

"U and A ASAP!" Max called, ducking her head and narrowly missing a bullet to the head, a few strands flying to the floor almost in slow motion as she leapt over a log flawlessly.

Talon's heart was beating wildly as she saw Iggy get slashed by a stray bullet, getting no reaction from him.

_I see a clearing! Turn at one o' clock and in five Mississippi's!_

Max put the brakes on and turned around wicked fast as Tally, Nudge and Angel stopped with her as well.

The older three threw their hands out, causing some of the Bounty Hunters to freeze, some of them to go flying back and the bullets to embed themselves in trees while Angel made a ton of them turn around and plain _leave. _

When they were satisfied, they snapped their wings open and jumped into the air where the boys were all circling at a safe distance.

"You girls are _scary_," the Gasman said.

Tally snorted, _I don't know whether to say 'and bombs and cults aren't' or take it as a compliment. _

Iggy flashed a grin, "You can't see _anything_, remember Tally?"

Almost as if the inch-within-her-death situation hadn't happened, Tally rounded on Iggy and whacked him with her wing. _That was a low blow you dirty bas—_

"Language," he said easily, still grinning, despite the blood dripping from the slice on his arm.

_You curse all the time you bonehead!_

"Name calling isn't nice."

Tally rolled the sleeve of her wind breaker up, flexing her hands, _I'll show _you_ nice._

-

I had convinced Fang to _not_ turn on the laptop tonight, as we watched the kids sleep and Iggy's lips barely move and Tally's subconscious hand gestures as they "talked." I have _no_ idea what they usually talked about, all I knew was that it usually ended up with either Tally hitting him in some way or in a very mushy position.

Not that I could complain about that.

One, that meant Tally kept Iggy (and by default Gazzy) out of our hair (Mine, specifically. Meaning no pranks from the oversized, _four_-year old.) and two, I'd be a hypocrite since I was participating in mushy stuff of my own kind.

Though not right now, in plain sight of Tally and Iggy—"Ow! Dang it, I didn't mean anything by it!"—who would no doubt tease us till we combusted from all the unnecessary attention.

We were sitting in a relatively companionable silence, just content watching the flock sleep (with the exception of the tall were-squabbling-a-second-ago-but-were-now-in-a-_very-_close-hug yin-yang couple across from us.).

And as I had said on _multiple occasions_; silence is not a good thing for me in many ways.

It causes me to just mosey on over to my more paranoid thoughts, not to mention have to remind my self of the list of things I need to go over in order to, you know, _survive._

_And the serum._

And there is always that little nifty Voice of mine that pops in whenever the heck it wants instead of when I _really_ need it.

Yet, having a good portion of the world after us (a big jump from the tiny Science Club called Itex, apparently) had matured me even more. So instead of completely blowing it off or telling it to take a hike, I decided to humor it.

_And by that, you mean what? The GH05T serum? Aren't Fang and Talon over that?_

_No. _

"What?" I asked aloud by accident, head whipping around to give the Stoic Twins icy glares.

Fang just shrugged it off, giving me his own "What's wrong _now_?" look while Tally did her little freak out thing and ducked her head into Iggy's shoulder, like the guilty party she was.

_The Stoic Twins, as you call them, haven't recovered completely from the serum. They just don't talk to anyone but themselves about it. Go ahead and ask them what they have been worrying about._

"You've been hoping heads or something?" I asked, reverting to my scathing remarks, letting the sarcasm drip from the words like acid.

Fang cocked an eyebrow while it said _No._

"Fine then," I muttered, then louder; "The voice says you guys have been hiding symptoms. Explain. Now."

Talon jumped up from where she was, swaying a bit, before trying to stride over to her twin.

She forcefully yanked him closer to her and started a mini conversation with him.

"Should I assume they're talking to each other?" Iggy asked, his face twisted in annoyance. "Or is it some twincest?"

I muttered under my breath, "Sexist revolting pig." Fang chucked a rock at him (and a dirty look that he didn't see) while I guess Tally "told him" a few choice words then jumped back into her gesticulations.

"Are you guys going to share anytime soon?" I asked after a few minutes.

Fang turned and gave me this weird look with his black eyes and then gave a curt nod. "Yeah, just comparing stories. We can hit Goblins. On occasion."

"Awesome," I mumbled, mentally adding that to a list of "pros" to that dumb serum. "What else?"

"The usual burning. Nothing much."

He said it _so_ casually.

_Maximum, where do you think new Goblins are coming from?_

"How should I know?"

_Think, Maximum. The School customarily kidnapped kids for experiments. So to make Goblins the Facility would have had to…_

"They're kidnapping kids for experiments?!"

-

Facility, Spain, 1500 Hours

All over the world, at the very moment that Maximum Ride and the older flock members discussed the new revelation, children were being stolen from their homes, beds, recruited straight out of school for "Scholar's Achievement Association" and all being shipped to former Itex buildings, School buildings and the Institute for Higher Living.

That is, after it had all been acquired by Kravtsov.

How did she come up with the grafting of Goblin traits into normal homo sapiens sapiens?

Simple.

The obsolete Erasers that they kept around mainly for study had been the key to her idea.

More specifically, the files Jeb Batchelder had left behind on his son and Eraser, Ari Batchelder.

Consequentially, the deceased half-brother to the leader of the famous "Flock;" the very flock that held the one experiment she had overseen for fourteen years.

Aforementioned file provided her with plenty of information on the grafting of DNA and traits into already aged humans.

Which was the base for her experiments on human children into Goblins.

The first Goblin Prototypes were merely a amalgamation of many animals, producing a very ferocious creature, which had to be promptly euthanized after it attacked and killed one of Kravtsov's whitecoats. That is, after they had produced the first tracking Goblins, mouths stitched shut to prevent the death of any others.

And that was precisely how she had managed to corral the flock into a certain area and capture _her_ experiment and the other that was meant to be hers as well, but Batchelder had snatched out from under her.

She tested out the serum on the twins, taking a blood sample and observing the way the blood cells mutated, all while forcing them to fight against Battle Goblins, the more ferocious of the "species."

But, when they were wisped away by the others in the flock, she had to resort to something else.

She had wanted two undefeatable spies and combatants.

Her hypothesis was that if she injected the GH05T serum, the new and improved one, then she would have the perfect weapons in which to manipulate the world leaders to her will.

But, due to the fact that Avian-Homo Sapiens Sapiens hybrids tended to be immune to many things (an affect of the former and also obsolete School's asinine tests), the serum was winding it's way through their systems slowly.

So she turned to kidnapping kids.

Those that were arrested for "Pro-flock" meetings, whom had crossed a certain line drawn by any specific towns, were immediately sent to a certain building from which they were drugged then sent to the nearest Facility. Where they would be prepped for hybridization.

Kravtsov gave a wide, unsettling smile.

She didn't have Batchelder to interfere in her experiments anymore; he wouldn't poison her experiments mind, or cause her to screw up on any surgery.

And no one would know that she was kidnapping the kids, since it paled in comparison to the world wide search for the seven flying children and dog she had caused.

She took a sip of her coffee and looked at her computer screen, muttering in Russian, "Life is good."


	38. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

It was weird, how freaking peaceful the sky outside looked, compared to everything that was happening at that very moment. The skies blue as can be, the sun shining so fiercely that it was nearly blinding and little South Floridian critters singing and going about their business with an almost foolish determination.

And yet, amid the sickening cheeriness a girl was hunched over her computer, her Forensics textbook open to a random page by her side as she typed with a strange passion.

Her long brown hair spilled over her back in a myriad of angles, the glare from the computer making her look sickly.

"Come on…" she muttered, tapping her finger on the enter button repeatedly. "Come _on_ already!"

The room she was in was fairly messy. Steven King and Marry Higgins Clark books strewn all over the place, heaps of both dirty and clean laundry, bed unmade and the lingering smell of axe coming from a boy's hoodie.

She then suddenly, she pumped a fist in the air, whisper-shouting, "YES!"

She quickly printed out all the sheets and copied all the files onto one of many Zip Drives scattered over her desk, _Bag of Bones _and _All Around the Town_ falling to the floor.

"Damn everyone for volunteering me to do this…" she muttered petulantly, picking the books up with small hands, smoothing out the crinkles. "Does Cookie have anything better to do than hack into some files? _No_. And dang them for pulling the whole '_You_ got us hooked on Fang's and Tally's Blog' card. I feel _used_," all this was mumbled so low that it barely seemed like she was talking.

She pushed some hair back; face the picture of annoyance as she let her eyes skim through the information as it loaded onto the disk. Then they widened fractionally, "No way…these people are _bastards_."

However, she never got to finish it.

She whirled around on the spot when she felt the usual prickle of her neck that meant some idiot was peeping through her window or something.

But her black eyes flashed in terror as the shards of glass seemed to almost hurl at a slow speed as if through water with a resonating smash of hurricane proof glass.

Cookie never got the opportunity to even scream as a clawed and gnarled hand swiped her across the cheek, slamming her into her four poster bed and effectively knocking her out.

The Goblins had captured yet another human.

A fifteen year old PRO-FLOCK member.

-

Tally openly gaped at Max, how was Kravtsov—that idiotic woman who managed to _screw up_ on a surgery— managing to hide entire _kidnappings_ while the Flock couldn't sneeze without someone looking at them suspiciously?

She didn't even notice the way her hands started shaking even harder, _They're—They're kidnapping innocent kids?! Kids that are on _our_ side? _

Well, she certainly felt sucker-punched.

Kravtsov was defintely exploiting all their faults.

She dang well _knew_ that Max had to save everyone and just _mentioning _that little fact caused everyone's feathers to stand on end.

Stupid underhanded woman was playing on their Hero-Syndrome.

"Simple, then we don't kill Goblins anymore!" Max huffed, eyes not focused—a clear sign that she was directing the statement at the Voice rather than at Fang, Iggy or Tally.

Tally looked over at Iggy as Fang abandoned her in favor of his girlfriend.

He had his face mussed up so that he looked somewhere in between pissed and annoyed, the bruises and scars didn't help to soften the fifteen year old boy's features.

Tally made her way over to him, leaves crunching under her feet, and ran a finger down his arm hesitantly.

He recoiled, startling her as she snatched her hand back, not noticing how in the process she had accidently slowed the molecules in a beetle down to the point where it was frozen. "Dammit, leave me alone," he said quietly.

Another punch; she just wouldn't get any slack today, would she?

Or was she getting clingy?

Tally shook her head minutely obstinately ignoring the sudden warm sting and blurring in her eyes, choosing instead to stand a few feet away from the blind giant and switch topics quickly. Before she became a blubbering idiot, that is.

The world was really messed up if some money took precedence over kidnapped kids.

And then there was the fact that made guilt weigh her down even more.

How would they get rid of Goblins knowing that they were kids?

And were they dying? The regular old genetically enhanced kids died off like flies…so _normal_ non-genetically enhanced children…

Tally winced, taking a sharp intake of breath at the same time a wave of acid washed down her chest again.

No, she really _wasn't_ going to get any breaks it seemed.

"Fine," Max huffed like someone would before hanging up on someone. She then turned to the older members of the flock, her eyes dancing on Fang a moment longer before she spoke, pushing some dirty blonde hair back. "The Voice says that we have to get to the Facility. No matter what."

"And the kids?" Iggy asked; a certainly sour and caustic tenor to his voice. "Are we supposed to just blow them to bits knowing they were innocent kids the day before?"

"Of course not," Max snapped, almost snarled. "What the hell is wrong with you? We're going to treat them like Erasers. Injure them enough to get away and that's _it_."

The blind boy scowled, "The only thing that's bothering me is that we're still fighting a freaking useless battle."

"Huh?" Fang muttered just as Max blew up.

"It's not useless! We _will_ save the world! We'll do it, we'll destroy the Facility just like we did Itex and that's final!"

"No! Sure, it's useless like that too, since the world we're saving wants our wings to help with 'Global Warming' but I don't mean that! I mean that every time we turn around, there's a new law that restricts us! Something that prevents us to do things the way we did a year ago! You remember, right? Saving Angel, New York, Anne, Florida! Things were so much easier back then! It's just getting hopeless _now_!" he threw his hands out in a strange parody of Talon's gesticulations.

Tally blinked, flinching back from the increasing volume of Iggy's voice.

She—She wasn't going to _agree_ with everything Iggy said (partly because she had barely been with the Flock a year…and only had a vague semblance of how they described New York and saving Angel to her)… but she wasn't going to disagree either.

Everything he said was _true_ to some extent…but she just didn't want to fall to that level of…depression?

No, she was already that. And she acknowledged it, what with her self deprecating thoughts…the way she could link everything that happened back to her being the catalyst…

"Calm down," Fang's voice cut through the palpable tension like a knife to butter, looking at both of them evenly when he saw his sister was more inclined to watch the grass grow. "Fighting's not going to get us anywhere."

Iggy huffed, his light blue eyes still narrowed into a horrible glare.

Talon winced again. Gosh, she just felt like shriveling up and dying under all the glare fest! Maybe she should have gone to sleep with the little kids instead of staying up and apparently doing something stupid to get Iggy mad at her.

Maybe.

Then again, she liked being in the loop.

However, at the cost of her sanity and relationship?

Not so much.

She grimaced, another spasm of pain rippling up her chest. Her mouth opened in an inaudible "oh."

"Fine," Max said.

Iggy just stomped away to a tree, far away from the three other flock members. And when that happened, her twin and leader shot her a questioning look.

She gave a feeble shrug and let herself slide down, highly aware of the elephant called _fatigue_ that had decided to sit on her.

_Whatever I did, sorry, _she thought, taking off her sweatshirt and balling it up.

He gave her no answer save for an annoyed clicking of the tongue.

She was pretty darn sure she was going to be cold that night…and even colder when she had watch and had to wake up her—Iggy.

What the hell had she done!?

-

I frowned. (Something I seemed to do a lot lately)

We had stopped at the border that led into the Facility, only a short distance away from the Headhunter's school.

And I couldn't believe our luck.

The whole place, and even a whole five miles _away_ from it, was fenced in.

And no, it wasn't those little cutesy white picket fences or that I just didn't _notice_ the fence way back when we were on the rescue mission for the stoic twins. But it _did_ seem to have gotten an upgrade.

It was a hulking fifteen foot chain linked fence, with a nice hurt-your-eyes yellow sign happily telling us to stay away because of the voltage (sadly, there was a dead maggot laden squirrel as proof) and another five feet of barbed wire towards the top.

Now, my first though was _Fly over it_.

But the twins were quick to practically tackle me down on that one.

I looked at them incredulously, wondering why they just seemed to have developed ants in their pants by osmosis, as they hazarded glances at the fence.

Fang calmly (though somehow not) pointed up above from thee fence where I caught some shimmering for about all of half a second.

"What?" I asked.

He didn't answer, because at that moment, Talon had climbed up into a nearby tree and chucked a rock at the shimmering stuff.

The poor pebble, innocent in its doings, suddenly collided with an invisible something in a crackling, snarling mess, bright sparks of blue electricity jumping off.

When the fireworks display was over the pebble was gone and all that was left was some steaming ashes.

"Unless you want to turn into fried birdkid, I suggest a different plan," Fang said with a pointed look.

I made a grossed out face (banishing the mental image of Total, battered and fried next to some mac 'n' cheese and mashed potatoes from KFC) before scanning everything again. "How did you guys get out last time?"

"There wasn't _barbed_ wire last time…and the back fence was opened," Fang replied.

"They usually open the fence with a keypad…and the forcefield's always been there…" Angel said, probably reading Tally's mind as she jumped down from the tree in one leap.

"I still say we blow it to smithereens," Iggy said, scratching his nose.

"Too ostentatious," I said. "But we can still fly over the fence."

Gazzy made an alarmed sound as Nudge began babbling about not wanting to be turned into fried bird kid, and Total began to question my sanity. Only Angel, Iggy, Tally and Fang stayed quiet, waiting for my verdict.

"No one's going to be fried anything," I shot Fang an exasperated glance for even giving them that idea. He just smirked. "For it to be giving off that much energy there has to be a power-box of some sort that we can override…or go back to that area where Tally and Fang escaped from and retrace their steps."

"Excellent plan," Fang whispered. "Then what?"

"No idea, start walking."

-

"I don't like this, not one bit," Dr. Martinez said briskly into the phone, peeking out through her curtains at the road almost imagining those hellish things Max had described to her while Ella wringed her hands next to her.

"Neither do I, Valencia," John Abate replied. "The flock are only _children_ and yet people want to kill them for 350,000 dollars."

Immediately, Dr. Martinez got a picture of her daughter threatening to poke out John's eyes and make him eat them all while yelling a thousand reasons for why they weren't children.

"People have killed for less," she said, turning to a picture of said birdkids she had on the counter beside the impaled bread holder Max had nearly destroyed with her newest power.

It was a large eight and a half by eleven inch blue frame.

They were all in the living room, Fang and Max sitting on the loveseat comfortably with soft smiles, Total, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel grinning at the camera with smiles made of sunshine, bunny ears on all of their heads. Tally was on the couch, mouth forever frozen halfway through a silent laugh with Iggy's head in her lap, milky eyes shining with mirth as he told a joke.

"Even more of a reason to create the CSM."

Dr. Martinez was rudely yanked from her reverie. "No," she shook her head, brown eyes almost mournful. "Max vetoed it."

"But that was a while ago. And she hasn't said anything about those PRO-FLOCK meetings…"

"I'm not sure, I mean that was back before all this stuff, when we had a chance of it taking off…"

"I know a ton of people in power who still think that the Coalition to Stop the Madness is a good idea. Even better, I can have the Vice-President on our side in no time."

"A bit conceited now, aren't we?" she asked teasingly while giving Ella's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"No, just stating the facts."

And so the CSM was born.

-

**A/N: Just saying that I am disappointed with the amount of reviews I got for last chapter. **


	39. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

The sun was filtering through the windows of a hulking structure in Madrid, creating little grids of golden light on the walls and tile, breathing a sort of life to the hospital like building.

But when you wandered away from the windows, past all the security precautions, you would start to breathe in the sterile smells, the morbid shades of gray, red and white.

The further in you traveled, the more hospital devices littered the hallways, sterilizing rooms, holding rooms.

And in one of the very few lounges aimed for the staff were two tall teenagers, grating on each other's nerves.

The girl had short black hair, chopped off at her chin and spiked up with a big chunk flopping in front of her red eyes. She wasn't too small, at least not with the almost comically large silver platforms she bore.

"You're a pain, you know that?" she said, blue acrylic nails tapping against a table in a very annoyed fashion.

"You say that now, but you won't mean it later," the boy replied. He, on the other had, scraped six feet and had bright neon green eyes, always running a hand through his bleached platinum hair as if it would disappear any second.

"Yes," the girl drawled. "And hell is made of happy sunshine flowers, you baboon."

The boy seemed to just give up on her, eyeing the girl, curled up in her dress on the couch like some smug cat before going on with his thoughts, "Kravtsov says we will have a mission soon."

Her eyes snapped up to him, dull curiosity sparking some life into the deadened sea. "Oh? For us, or for everyone?"

"Everyone," he said, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. "When Kravtsov gives us the word, we're supposed to set out."

"No details?"

"None whatsoever. She will tell us once the others return."

The girl touched the spikes on her head, a snake-like smirk capturing her venomous features. "Yeah…we just have to wait for the other IIs."

-

Tally rubbed at her eyes, watching as her brother staggered so slightly that it could have been missed easily.

Shaking her head of idle thoughts, she let the tips of her fingers brush over some bark, her raptor vision zeroing in on the flecks of blood before turning, highly aware of how she kept zoning out.

It would be a gross understatement to say that she was scared.

Maximum Ride didn't get scared, but Tally sure as hell did.

And she felt that, her heart hammering so dang hard she felt like falling over, an imaginary someone's breath fanning across her neck as she walked, the phantom barking and growling of Erasers and the little flashes in the corner of her eye or the unnatural darting that belonged to the Goblins.

But she kept her face a mask of cool indifference, not willing to let _anyone_ know.

She put a tight clamp on her thoughts as well, to make sure that the ruffled bird boy that had access to them had no idea of her fears.

Of broken needles and skeletons in the closet.

Fang knew of what was on the inside of the Facility, but only him.

The rest of the flock had made sure to keep out of firing and Goblin range when they had assisted in the twins' escape.

It seemed that her brother and she had had a taste of the other's life. When they were kidnapped by the organization called the School and locked up, torn to ribbons, crimson seeping through her uniform in a strange octopus pattern.

She blinked again, _NO! Not thinking of that…one…two…three….four…five…six…seven…_

Tally's gray eyes flickered up when she heard a very annoyed "What the hell?" to Gazzy's left.

_Eleven…twelve…thirteen…_

She stopped, unable to tell her legs to move, to get to their destination. But when she allowed her eyes to look up, she saw precisely why she had stopped.

The fence was wide open, leading into the Facility, a large atrocity in the night sky.

The little lights were flicked on in one wing, as if no one ever went to sleep—a new take on vampires maybe—the lawn mowed so that not a blade was out of place.

However, she could still, with her eyes closed, point out her precise footsteps and stumbles when she had escaped. That is, if the soil hadn't taken the blood she had been leaking the whole time (both times) in the time she had deserted it.

"That's strange…" Max said, eyeing the opening into the grounds suspiciously, stopping Nudge and Gazzy when they began to walk through it.

She gave Fang an affirmative nod, and he bent down and sifted through the dead leaves and dirt and picked up a fair size twig. Winding his arm back—Tally flinched, her paranoia making her imagine a field full of decaying bodies—and chucked the rock at the opening.

Everyone flinched, fully expecting it to fry the same way the pebble had but nothing happened.

The power couple (the only one left in the flock it seemed) exchanged a look.

She didn't know what made her, but she felt an intense surge of annoyance flow through her veins and charge her nerves. Whatever fear had held her immobile now allowed her to stride ahead of the flock, the cries of alarm from the flock falling on deaf ears.

She'd prove herself yet!

She wasn't a burden!

Tally walked the thresh hold in a sort of trance, fully expecting her skin to start burning with a current flowing over her skin, a single instant of pain that would last for eternity before she would collapse forever.

But it didn't happen.

Not even the slightest tingle of a current.

She stared down at her body in disbelief, frowning, then gave the flock a desolate glance of her shoulder; a sign to go on.

She trudged through the lawn slowly, eyes scanning things and the concerned whispers of both shock and anger not penetrating her thoughts.

Talon was startled by her own mind.

Why did she get so impulsive?

Her thoughts swirled around in a massive movement, never stopping on one thing for too long, most of it going along the lines of _What the hell was that?_

She brushed her hand against the first door—the one Fang had practically kicked down—and looked at Nudge pointedly when her pushing and pulling it didn't work.

The whispered comments and glances continued, and Tally continued thinking…

But a hand on her shoulder about made her jump a foot in the air. She followed the hand up to the perpetrator, a giant bird kid who had taken to hating her in two seconds. "What the hell was that?"

She figured she had a few options; A) ignore him completely, B) give a scathing remark or C) be honest.

She chose a combo of B and C. _What do you mean? I do a lot of things that you don't like, apparently. _

Iggy really would have to fix that tic in his eyebrow sooner or later, she thought idly. "When you just ignored us all, you idiot. And who the heck said that I disapproved of stuff you do?"

Tally rolled her eyes. _I couldn't hear anything. And don't play dumb. _

"You're putting words in my _mouth_ now?" he hissed, matching her stride for stride as she shouldered past the rest of the flock and let herself be assaulted by the intense smell of bleach and alcohol.

She gave a silent huff, stopping in the dark hallway—goose bumps rose on her skin when she saw an imaginary flash of gnarled hairs and gleaming red eyes, reaching towards her, a hoarse voice croaking her name—_Whatever._

Iggy fumed, unaware of the fright that kept sinking down into Tally's bones or the involuntary shiver that went down his own spine.

"Is it me," Max said slowly, in the small miracle that was silence. "Or is this place completely vacant?"

"C-c-cold too," Nudge said, a white puff of vapor appearing in front of her mouth as if to prove her point. She zipped up her windbreaker, everyone did, except Tally, who delved into the shadows, not fully in control of her feet or actions.

"Tal," Fang called, watching the shadows engulf his sister as she wandered into a hallway. "Where are you going?"

_The computers…_ she thought, creeping through the hallways…

It was so odd, seeing the place in such a state…the few times she was allowed to see everything with her own eyes, or when her powers were neutralized, it had been in tip top shape, without any sign of decay whatsoever.

So why could she hear a pipe far off dripping—

She about skittered out of her skin when she thought she saw something slithering on the ground, moving around in quick, jerky movements. Shuddering, she turned and pointedly avoided that hallway, speeding her walk.

"Tally! Wait up!" Gazzy called.

"She's scared…" Angel intoned in a voice that was quite fitting for the atmosphere.

Tally heard a far off "Why?" before she kicked down the door to the computer lab, stopping for everyone who were at least three wingspans behind.

"She keeps seeing things…in the corner of her eye…Max, I'm scared..."

Guilt this time…

Tally rubbed her eyes, feeling a bit…off in the mental status.

She resolved to stay away from pointy objects and not go near the flock if her thoughts went blood thirsty.

She'd be damn glad when Iggy and Gazzy torched the place.

-

Tally looked haunted, at least, she looked like that to me.

Her eyes were so void of life, and the way she moved was…was like she was on some marionette strings, a deep frown on her face, fear flickering on it occasionally.

And I could relate, I guess.

My first time being inside the Facility, and I had thought that I had wandered into some weird Haunted house in the middle of July. Fang told me it was way different when it was up and running, efficient and School-like but this just managed to creep the hell out of me.

The shadows, the dust that had accumulated out of no where, the abandoned hospital beds and wheelchairs in the middle of the room, and even long claw marks ripping down the wallpaper.

I felt like I had walked into an asylum rather than a place that engineered freaks like me.

Iggy stubbornly stood as far away from thee frazzled mute bird girl, arms crossed and instead tilting his head back in forth when he heard something. Which was every few thirty seconds, making us all stop moving for a minute before he would shake his head (stirring a dust cloud behind him every time) and continue, completely motionless.

"How's it going Nudge?" Fang asked her, watching her mocha hands fly over the keys with a _tip-tap-tip-tip-tap._

She went for a smile but just managed a sort of grimace, "Great. Almost done. Thanks again for finding the wires to boot this thing up, Iggy."

He nodded and then went back to his extreme hearing.

"Are we sure this isn't a trap?" Total asked cautiously, sniffing at a corner and giving the doggy-version of a grimace.

Tally flinched violently, her loose hair flying everywhere and her foot stomping on the ground as she looked in a certain direction, hands curled into gloved claws.

We waited with bated breath, the order to run like hell on the tip of my tongue before she defrosted, rubbing her shoulders and casting worried glances down either hallway.

"Everything could be a trap, Total," I said sagely. I didn't bother with asking Tally if she was all right, she had been ignoring us all night long.

The Scottie grumbled some, hopping into Angel's arms.

"Got it!" Nudge whisper-shouted.

"Great," Iggy said, opening and closing his hand as if to hold something the remembered it wasn't there. "Let's get out. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies."

Somehow, I had a feeling that he didn't it say it for _his_ benefit.

-

Dr. Martinez nodded at Brigid Dwyer, smiling at some points.

The woman was very likeable, though Dr. Martinez doubted she had been out of college for more than twelve minutes (having been present to teach her a course and everything), and she spoke with great enthusiasm and mettle about the Flock and things that she had planned to do.

Though Max's mom felt a bit discouraged, Max would likely beat down plenty of her suggestions if it came down to it.

Outside, Ella was playing with the dog Brigid had brought with her, a beautiful Malamute named Akila.

Now, all they had to do was contact Max and see what she thought.

And hope the lines weren't tapped.


	40. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

_One…two…three…four…_

Tally fiddled with a loose thread, not caring that it wasn't technically her watch. Iggy and Gazzy had blown up The Facility earlier. Now the next thing on the list to tackle was to find a place to regroup, have a proper meal and decide what to do next tomorrow.

_Nine…ten…eleven…twelve…_

In face, Iggy was on watch, scowling in her direction.

_Fifteen…sixteen…seventeen…eighteen…_

She frowned, crossing her arms and rubbing them.

Insanity was pulling her in, she just knew it.

And it scared the living crap out of her.

Tally took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut and held down a pathetic whimper.

The hallucinations were getting worse with time. At first, she had blamed her newfound freedom and simple paranoia at having it ripped out from under her. (Which had happened multiple times, feeding that paranoia.)

But now…now she thought differently. Could it have been that damn serum, raising hell into her veins and then causing her brother and her to collapse?

And there must've been a reason for all the male Goblins she had seen.

She caught Iggy cocking his head her way, mouth pulled down at the edges less severely and brows coming together as if in thought.

She turned away from him. _He won't care…_she thought, burrowing her head into her bruised arms which lied on her knees.

_He'll wear a pink tutu and lipstick before he cares again…_

She bit the inside of her cheek when the inside of her eyelids showed a red cat-like gleam that disappeared as soon as she snapped eyes open yet again.

Life was not going good.

No. It wasn't.

Sometimes she wondered if she would have been better off being terminated, saved from the heartbreak and illusions…

_I should have died…I never wanted this…_

"What. The. Heck?" Iggy ground out, caught between angry and surprised.

Tally raised her head to look at him, wondering what she had done wrong _now._

_What?_ she thought bitterly, flinching when another figured slinked into her view, a humanoid like body jerking towards her on all fours, it's tortured whispers reaching her ears. Her mouth dropped opened when it disappeared as soon as Iggy began speaking again.

"Why the heck do you think you should've _died?_" he asked, anger seeping into his words like blood to a sponge.

She pondered idly whether or not to tell him before curling into herself. _What do you care?_

"I _do_ care!" he hissed through gritted teeth. "Why the hell else would I be your _boyfriend?!_"

Tally stared at him grimly. He still considered them together after he decided to turn his fury on her? That was odd.

_You're mad at me. You keep up with this anger…_

"And that means we're broken up?!"

She sighed, glancing at him then darting her eyes to her folded hands. _I assumed I had doing something wrong.—_She didn't bother to ask if she'd used the word correctly. At this point, she didn't really care.—_Something that made you really _really_ mad at me. _

"Haven't you heard?" she looked down at one of her bandages where her shirt was riding up. "Assume makes and ass out of you and me."

_Really? That's great…_Was it supposed to still be with a green tint-like pus? Fang's went away a long while ago, she was sure of it.

"I'm being serious!" Iggy exclaimed in a whisper shout. "I never said I wanted to break up!"

Tally spared a glance to where Fang and Max were; Iggy was so caught up in the argument he hadn't even notice Max and Fang waking up.

_Neither did I. But your anger problems—_

"You! You! You! Why do you keep blaming _me?!_ Maybe it was _your _fault, huh?!"

Tally gave a shuddering breath, _Oh yeah? How?_

"I was clearly frustrated and then you try to calm me down! Maybe I needed some space, ever thought of that!?" He got up and began taking steps in her direction. "And maybe I'm getting a bit frustrated with how you're always depressed! How about that!?"

Tally stared at him, traitor tears building up in her eyes. _Fine, maybe it's me…I'm sorry for being concerned and for being paranoid, all right? In fact, I'm sorry for ever bothering to join this damn flock! I should have died! It would've been easier for you! Who knows! You guys could have gotten your stupid CSM and not had to deal with all this hunter and Facility crap!_

She stood, wobbling a bit, and then snapped her wings out. _I'll leave! Maybe that'll help you guys out! You won't have me as a burden anymore! _

"Tally!" Max called, startled and up to restrain her. "What are you doing?! What's gotten into you?!"

_Leave me alone! I'll leave! I'll go die alone! I'm a burden! This way you guys won't have to carry a body around when I die from this thing!_ The tears were freely flowing down her face now.

"You're _not_ going to die!" Iggy said firmly, clapping a hand a shoulder.

He choked just as Tally opened her mouth in a silent scream, all of the horrors she had seen in the past few days filtering in front of her eyes before flashing into Iggy's head.

She ripped out of Iggy's grip and jumped into the dark night sky.

-

"The hell did you do…" Fang asked dangerously, aiming a glare at Iggy.

He put his hands up defensively, "Nothing! I just went to stop her and then—oh God, is that what she's been seeing? Dang…"

"What the hell were you two arguing about?" I asked, still looking in the direction that Tally had taken off in.

_Good Maximum, don't follow her. She'll come back. She has no one else to go to. Being alone for 14 years does that to you. _

"Why I was a bit ticked at her," he said tiredly. "I was trying to explain to her that even if I was a bit mad didn't mean we weren't still a couple. But she just blew up—trust me, you don't know how Tally can unleash her fury until you've heard her go from light hearted mind rant to projecting her thoughts so damn loudly—and started thinking about how she should've died."

"Dammit…" Fang said under his breath, hitting the nearest tree. "I didn't think she'd give in to those."

I rounded on him, "Explain. Now."

"I guess Tally just isn't too good at fending off those thoughts…it happened to me as well while we were at the Facility, except I could throw them off and noticed there was something fishy before Angel got a chance to read them. I think it's all part of the serum…" he paused, and I noticed the bags under his eyes—almost bruises—making him look far older than he actually was. "What Tally sees is…you remember that Grudge Movie we saw? Combine it with every experiment that ever died at the school and the Goblins."

"But that doesn't explain why she wants to _die_," Iggy muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Actually," I intervened, seeing it all come together in my head. "It does. These _lovely_ twins keep the fact that they're hurt from us all the time. And they _tried_ to die earlier on—"

_And the fact that they both think of themselves as burdens. And take into account, Maximum, how Talon has seen many horrors in her fourteen years of life. _

I waited, trying to will it to say more.

But we both knew it didn't need to. "You both think of yourselves as burdens…right?"

Fang's head whipped up to look at me, surprise showing it self to me. "What?"

"You heard me…" I couldn't even begin to get mad at that, I had to finish being a leader for the night—scratch that. I was on leader mode for the rest of the _morning_. Lovely. "And also, she was at that creepy place for _fourteen years._ A place that's stable, nothing changes except for the experiments, and she was going to die. But instead, she chose to get out and try her hand at freedom. Overwhelming, to say the least.

"So when things go to screeching into madness, she meets us, and sees what hell we're going through she automatically blames her self. And then convinces her self that everyone, including her, would have been better off with her dead…"

"I'm not letting her die, dammit! This is _one_ good thing that happened in our freaked up life! I'm not letting her commit suicide! Especially not out of guilt!" Iggy exclaimed, waking up the rest of the little guys and Total.

"Settle down and quit cussing!" I commanded, tightening my hands into fists. "We'll go get her! Fine! Let's get some fuel and then we'll head out!"

Fang nodded, picking up Tally's abandoned and Iggy just turned around and started getting some energy bars out of his pack.

-

_Dammit!!_

She ducked the on going bullets, wincing yet again, trying to pull her wings further against her back.

"She's already got a hole in her! Just get her again!"

"She moves damn fast though!"

"Just get her and quit yammerin'!"

Tally panted jumping up onto a stump and taking an ten foot hop into a tree branch, eliciting surprised shouts from the Bounty Hunters.

_Gah!_ Tally thought, yanking out a—

Her eyes widened, as she took in the clear liquid inside the syringe, with a bright red feather again.

_Tranquilizer…_

Immediately, she felt her vision start to blur, her eyelids get heavy.

_I am not going to be captured…over my dead body…_

She took a drunken step forward, flicking her hand forward.

A big burst of red and terrified screaming, cussing, "That girl blew his arm up!!!"

_What?!_ she felt her lunch from the previous day coming up, raising her hand to feel her face. _Is that my blood, or theres?_

"Just leave her! Call an ambulance!"

-

I think I was about to barf when we found Tally.

First what we smelled was blood, that rusty iron scent that means it's coagulating.

Then we saw the gray feathers and foot prints. Which _really _alarmed us.

See, when we run, we don't really leave footprints.

Since we weight less than most people and have lighter bones, plus we're quicker, the most you ever see of our foot prints is a faint outline maybe.

But full fledged foot prints and feathers meant you were either injured, or being forced forward.

After that, the foot prints stopped—feeling like a version of Scooby-Doo and the Gang in a horror scene—and the blood _really_ began.

Pieces of gore and flecks of blood then one big puddle of red and drag marks on the ground.

"Oh _God!"_ Nudge whispered, horrified.

"Please tell me Tally wasn't taken!" Gazzy said.

Total leapt out of Nudge's arms and sniffed the ground, "This isn't her blood."

"What? How would you know, Total?!" the Gasman asked out raged. I put my hand on his shoulder and calmly explained, "Dogs have a better sense of smell then normal humans, or even us, Gazzy."

Total trotted over to another spot of blood on the ground, just as he was going to make his verdict, Fang interrupted him.

"No need, Total, found her."

"She's…she's somewhere over there, isn't she?" Iggy asked, Angel nodded, "It _sounds_ like she's thinking from there."

So I followed their hands and Fang's gaze, to see her slumped against a tree, a dart in her relaxed hand, blood spattering her face and her wing slipping out, a small dark spot of blood on the elbow of it.

"Is that _her_ blood?" Nudge asked, half afraid now.

"She's there, right?" Iggy said, striding up to the tree and already making his way up behind Fang.

Fang mentioned softly, "I don't think all of the blood is hers."

Iggy pulled himself up, reaching out his hand and brushing it against her skin feather lightly. His sightless eyes turned on Fang, "This doesn't feel bad. Just her wing, that's not bad either. But she feels warmer than usual though…wait, c'mere, Fang."

"Dude, what?" He asked, scooting closer to him, well, as close as you can get on weirdly wide and sturdy tree branch.

Iggy put a pale hand on Fang's forehead, then to Tally's. "False alarm. You're both running at the same temp. I'd say about the 102 range."

"Greeat," I said sarcastically. "Bring her down already, you know, before Angel starts sprouting gray hairs."

"Aye aye, _capitana_," Iggy said, grabbing her torso while Fang hefted her feet up.

As they jumped down rather gracefully, I thought over our next move.

We wouldn't be able to move as fast with Talon under the influences of a trank (and believe me, she was going to get her ears lecture off on running off and being so impulsive…or maybe Fang should do it…it'd be hypocritical of _me_ to).

So…I guess a call to mom was in order.


	41. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The first thing Tally woke up to was a sort of pine scenty-come-sour smell, like someone who'd been outside for a long time and forgot to shower.

And then the powerful ache in both the elbow of her wing and on her shoulder.

The last thing she noticed was how the tree she was laying against had somehow sprouted two pale, freckled arms that wound around her waist and were covered in a dark blue and white striped shirt.

For some reason, pulling at her instincts and making her want to move the heck away.

She took a deep breath (wincing at the awkward pull of her chest and the hollow lash of pain) then tried to wriggle her shoulders to get out of Iggy's grip.

She gasped a bit when he tightened his arms. A small cloud of reddish-orange dust has risen from her struggling, the bottoms of her jeans practically painted in it.

_Iggy!_ she called to him, hoping it would pull through to his subconscious. _Let me go before I smack you!_ She paused then added, _Or turn you into birdfeed!_

"I don wanna," he slurred in her ear, giving a sigh. This made the tiny hairs on the nape of her neck rise, a faint blush dusting her cheeks.

Muffled chuckling got her attention. Max and Fang were entering the little space—a cave? Maybe. But in West Virginia?—practically laughing at her pain, smirking at them.

She gave them a fierce round of dagger glancing, shot them the bird and then racked her head for anything that would compel the giant holding her captive to let her go.

_Igggggy…._she mentally cooed, at the same time hoping to heck he would fall for it. _There's a five finger discount at Home Depot in the explosives aisle. _

"Huh? What?" he asked, coming to immediately. "Tally, you 'wake?"

_Uh-huh, now please let go._

"No, I haven't held you for how long?" he asked, nuzzling her neck cutely.

_You were holding me two seconds ago, you dork._

"What?"

_Hello, you don't remember? I smacked you then you pulled me into your lap, dufus. _

"Huh? Tally, we've been _fighting_."

_About what?! You liar! I don't remember!_

"How can you not remember? You went completely suicidal on us!"

_I'd have something witty to say if I knew what the heck swiss-tidal meant, Iggy, _she thought in a smart-alecky manner. 

"What's wrong now?" Max asked, striding over towards them, tone pulling at exasperated with the soap opera called _Iggy and Tally's Relationship_.

"Tally can't remember what happened since we fought," Iggy answered, wing twitching a bit.

_What fight?!_ Tally thought, her eyes shifting from her brother, to Max to Iggy and back again, then finally landing on Iggy's bright blue ones. _Are you trying to trick me again?!_

"What do you mean she can't remember? That's got to be the most explosive and serious fight you two have _had_," Fang said, looking at his sister with a tiny bit of open concern. How could she forget it? She had turned into some weird pseudo-Max with her stupid decisions…that is, if Max ever fell into that degree of depression.

Or maybe…

_And now you have Max and my twin in on it?! Great. Just great guys. I ain't falling for it. _

"We're not joking, Tally, we talked about how you and Fang could hit Goblins, I got mad, we've been fighting, you were saying you should've died and were practically trying to kill yourself at the Facility. Then you got yourself tranked and shot but we think you must've lost you temper or something," Iggy explained, splaying his hands on in front of his as if to prove his point.

Tally blinked, _This isn't funny guys…_

"Tally, we're not joking," Max intervened seeing the gist of the mental conversation from Iggy's responses. "You did do all those things but—" she stopped abruptly, eyes glazing over and mouth moving as if talking.

"Did Max go off to La-la land?" Iggy whispered into her ear, running her hand through her black hair discreetly.

She noticed what he was trying to do and pulled away, frowning. _Quit fussing, I don't have a bump on my head. And yeah, she's turned Space Cadet._

He pulled her back to him, folding his arms over her stomach, her back against his chest, her bandaged wing hanging out.

"Tally…" Max began slowly. "Have you ever blown up anyone?"

Fang's twin blinked, _Erasers and Flyboys, yeah._

Iggy told Max but she shook her head. "No, I mean normal humans. Like Whitecoats and Hunters."

For a moment as Tally thought, all that was heard was the distant cawing of a crow, Angel, Nudge, Total and Gazzy off somewhere playing and the older flock's breathing.

Finally, Tally shook her head no. She had been as humane as she could; only ever freezing normal humans.

Max sighed, "The Voice says that her mind, just as easily as it's been making her hallucinate, shut out that traumatizing stuff. And ended up shutting out the catalyst of the events to prevent her from remembering ever again."

Tally frowned, feeling heat rush to her ears and cheeks at what Max had unintentionally implied. What was with people and calling her crazy?

_I still don't get it, what could I have done to have…caused this? And why would it stand out from everything _else_ tra-mah-ti-zing that has happened to me?_

"I don't know…" Iggy said, his breath fanning across her neck. "Your mind is a strange _strange_ place, Talon."

The bird girl sighed, _Tell me about it. _

A distinct flutter of wings caused them all to look to the mouth of the cave, raptor vision zeroing in on the bird kid in the distance, immediately knowing who it was from the dirty preppy shoes and the banana yellow t-shirt.

"Why's Nudge yelling?" Iggy asked, looking with a puzzled expression towards the opening of the cave. "Has she decided her normal voice isn't enough to burst our ear drums?"

_You're so mean,_ Tally noted, accidentally flashing him a picture of their hands when she tried to pry them off her stomach.

"MAX! GAZZY GOT A NEW POWER!" Nudge screeched, flying super-duper fast at them and then hovering in place in front of the cave. "AND THOSE KIDS FROM WEST VIRGINIA ARE TALKING TO ANGEL AND GAZZY!"

It wasn't so much the first part of her yelling that made them pale significantly, so much as the last part.

In the category of "kids from West Virginia," which was thrown in a "do not open box" in the back of their mind right next to the School and the Facility, were four names more than anything; Lissa, Sam, Tess and Dylan.

"Haven't they heard of not talking to strangers?" Iggy asked drily, letting go of Tally and raking a hand through his hair.

All of them got to there feet, varying degrees of anxiety showing through.

_We're off to see the wizard of Oz,_ Talon thought, snapping out her wings, biting her chapped lips. _The really freaking mega annoying wizard of god darn it Wizard of Oz._

-

We expected to end up in some place with tons of shadows to cover up anything that the little kids could do.

But _no_.

Instead of doing the smart thing and following my orders, we find out they had somehow been able to get onto some farm-type place that sent me into flashback central. Also known as, something that looked freakishly similar to Anne's place.

And it doesn't stop there, no. Angel must've influenced Gazzy, who can usually use his common sense in these types of situations, to go near them with her.

Angel and Gazzy were chatting it up with the four people none of us really wanted to see again.

A tall girl, about Tally's height, was talking nonstop to Angel. And next to this tall girl was the one and only Red-Haired Wonder, smiling pleasantly and cooing at her.

Gazzy was surrounded by a completely different two though.

Two boys, tallish, were looking at one of Gazzy's bombs. The one with sandy hair I identified as Sam (and God, did it feel horrible to have all of my internal organs seem to swim around instead of staying in place), the other dude I did not know.

Red hair, green eyes from what I could tell, big jacket like ours in the middle of the summer.

Nudge, being the very smart girl she was, stayed silent and between Fang and Talon.

I pushed some hair behind my ear, narrowing my eyes into a glare while looking at the four normal kids.

_Angel,_ I called mentally. _Get Gazzy and over here, _now.

She glanced at me, all big blue eyes and determination, the glanced at Gazzy.

A few moments later, they were standing by us.

"Max?" Sam asked, breaking the awkward tension, moving some long grass away from him as he made to come near us.

_Not good,_ I thought. _This was the guy who looked wolfy when we were escaping…_

"Stay where you are," Fang said softly but grimly.

A tug at my arm brought my attention to Angel's dirt smudged face and limp ringlets. _They won't hurt us. We can trust them…_

_I'm not so sure of that Angel, but thanks sweetie. _

Her tiny pink mouth pulled down and she looked straight ahead again, _But they have PRO-FLOCK shirts._

What?

I looked up and low and behold, they did have the same black shirt as Tally on.

"Max, we don't mean any harm," the red headed boy said, adjusting his jacket. "We just wanted to talk; our aunt is coming with your family and everything…"

Red flag number one. Why the hell were my mom and Ella coming with anyone related to people that attended that stupid traitor school?! Did she not hear how all of us were practically cursing that one experience up and down?

"Your aunt? My family? Whoa, who the hell are you, first of all, and _then_ I'll decide whether or not to just ditch you."

He blinked but showed no other outward sign of discomfort. "My name's Dylan. Tally knows me."

I spared a glance at said injured bird girl who was looking at the boy, Dylan, blankly; never letting a speck of emotion through, besides how her hand was practically strangulating Iggy's, her knuckles standing out.

"Yeah, fine, now explain _everything_," I commanded, crossing my arms.

"_Max,_" Angel said, almost sounding exasperated. "They're _fine_, they don't seem evil."

"Why don't we go inside to the barn? That way no one sees your …wings."

I looked at Fang, trying to search his eyes for anything that might hint at what to do…

The small, almost imperceptible nod he gave me was enough. "Fine, but any funny stuff and you all get a big whoopin.'"

-

Tally looked between Dylan and Tess, not knowing who to glare at.

_You sure that this chick is over you? _She thought darkly, looking her up, down, left, right, front and back; noting flaws like some sort of robot designed just for that. _Cause I swear, I'm not afraid to pound her so hard she looks like an Oompa Loompa and gets the picture…_

"I doubt it," Iggy said, licking his lips. "Now are you sure this…Dylan guy doesn't need the same treatment?"

Tally scoffed, _He's more….all over Max. He better be careful, twin seems to want to pound him into oblivion, tear him into tiny pieces with his teeth and toss him to some Goblins in his birthday suit. _

"Or, you know, you're brother might swing the other way," he said then chuckled, mouth quirking up from one side. "Hell if I can tell, I'm blind."

_And I can't really ask him, now can I? _she said, countering him. _Maybe make an idiot out of myself acting like a mime…_

Both their attention swung back to Max when she began interrogating the group, sarcastic and cold. Using her forceful words to wrestle an explanation out of him and all the others, earning Angel's disapproving gaze.

"So…my mom knows your aunt?" Max asked for the bajillionth time.

"Yes," Dylan said patiently, staring straight into her eyes. "Your mom, Dr. Martinez, knows our Aunt Brigid."

Max opened her mouth in disgust, "And they created this CSM thing, after we said no, running all these risks…"

All four of the humans nodded.

"Idiots…" Fang muttered under his breath, gaining a nod from his twin.

"But maybe this isn't a bad thing, Max," Nudge told her softly, standing behind the stoic twins. "We were going to find your mom anyways, and we can use help with this…"

Max gave a weary sigh, her eyes going out of focus before coming back.

"Right, if this is a trap, we can always use our powers to get the hell out of here, but in the mean time," she gave a resigned sigh, raking her hand through her short hair. "Do you have a phone I can use? I wanna call my mom."

"Yeah," Lissa answered, pulling out her cell phone. "Mr. Abate pulled some strings so that it's coded a few times. Here ya go."

-

**A/N: Yes, I hear so much talk about JP's Dylan, so I bring my own Dylan back. **

**Review, please.**


	42. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Everything stood extremely still as Max dialed her mom's number, the waning sun's filtering through loose boards of the barn.

Angel fidgeted, her usually trusting eyes hard and sort of unnerving as she sent annoyed glances at Max.

"We don't bite, you know," Dylan said after a while of tense silence, sitting on a big bale of hay and propping his chin up. "Don't know if you guys do though."

Iggy rolled his eyes, "Haven't gotten the memo? We're part _bird_ not part _dog_."

"Except for Total," Fang muttered.

Tally sent said Scottie an icy glare to prevent him from going on his usual _I am not a dog!_ rant.

She was unsure of the situation as she kept an eagle eye on the human children.

Max had taken the phone and stepped into the small protective circle. She was speaking in hushed tones while the West Virginians had a mini stare down with the stoic twins. The twins stepping up to base as right-wing man and the right-wing man's younger sister—both well aware of the type of crap that could be flung their way in an instant.

But Tally knew one thing; the tense atmosphere was in no way helping with her achiness.

Another pregnant silence, in which Gazzy started shifting in that little dance that meant he needed to let go but was giving some sort of warning. Nudge and Angel scooted away.

That is, until Max muttered _Bye_ into the phone then snapped it shut and gave it back to Lissa.

"Your story checks out," she said, sort of weary. Then under her breath, "Good thing too, or we would've had one hell of a problem on our hands."

It was as if Max had spoken in code, as if she had somehow managed to say _Crap's not going to hit the fan…yet. Do what you want for now._

Angel pulled Nudge with her and Total over to Lissa, unaware of the extreme aura of doom Max was radiating.

Gazzy just hesitated and said something to Dylan and Sam before turning to the older Flock members, "Did Nudge tell you about my new power?"

"Wha'…?" Max asked.

Fang rolled his eyes at her.

"What is it, dude?" Iggy asked, the backtracked, shifting a bit away from him. "'Cept, you know, warn us if it's another level up on your gas problems."

Gazzy snickered, "No, actually, it's cooler than that! Or should I say hotter?"

He snapped his fingers in front of him, a small barely there flame appearing and flickering before it went out quickly. He looked at everyone beaming, "Well?"

"That's real cool, Gazzy!" Max said, ruffling his dirty hair. They all _really_ need showers. The boys were starting to smell especially ripe.

Fang nodded, allowing one side of his mouth to quirk up.

"Excuse me, but what the hell did the Gasser do?" Iggy asked, poking Tally sharply. She made a face, sticking her tongue out at him before explaining to him briefly what Gazzy had done.

"Well, I'm going over there with Dylan and Sam!" he said, already half way there as the two girls winced.

_I am _so_ not giving into those people…_Tally thought, looking at them with distaste, her left hand curling around a fistful of hay and practically turning it into pulp.

"Not asking you to," Iggy said, then came up real close to her. "But if that guy tries to come on to you, do me a favor and freeze him and come get me…"

She snorted, _So that _you_ can get first dibs? Nah, that's sweet, but I think I prefer kicking his ass myself. He was so annoying at school._

"No, you come get me so that I can at least hear him cry out when you make him scream like a sissy."

"Same," Fang said, smirking.

Talon gave Max an evil look, _Call me crazy, but for some weird reason I don't think he'll come to me. Most likely Max._

_-_

"Six rooms?" Max asked incredulously.

"Six rooms, not counting the basement, attic, office or TV room," Tess numbered off on his fingers while Lissa motioned grandly at the things they passed.

Tally shot her brother an uneasy glance (he reciprocated it) but felt some tension melt away from her when Iggy put his arms around her shoulder instead of a finger through her belt loop like usual. She wrapped her own around his was it, leaning her head against his shoulder.

_You chase the monsters away, _she thought for some reason. Why did she project that?

"Huh?" Iggy asked.

_Don't bother, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about…_

But some part of her self consciousness _did_ know what she was "talking" about, judging by the way she had inadvertently looked out the corner of her eye to check for something. Like how she had felt after being rescued from the Facility.

"Does this place get any bigger?" Max muttered, poking her head through a doorway and back out when she found out it was the Laundry Room. "I mean, it makes Anne's place look like a tiny hidey-hole.

"It doesn't _feel_ bigger," Iggy said, brushing his hand against a light blue wall. "Same color scheme as well. Maybe they're all just built this way?"

"Creepy," Fang said and Tally nodded at her twin.

Nothing creepier than houses that looked identical to each other.

"So, where do you guys want to sleep?" Tess asked, brushing some honey hair to the side. "You'll have to squeeze in with Dr. M and our parents and _us_ but I think we can find a place for you all."

"Attic," Max said almost automatically.

It was truly a Max move.

The basement was big enough for the whole Flock but didn't have any windows to conveniently rocket out of.

The six rooms were automatically out since the Flock did not want to cram into any one room like some sardines and pretend to be comfortable with someone's foot in their face and the possibility of having Gazzy's butt anywhere near them.

So that left the attic.

Which wasn't a bad decision at all; it didn't even really have the dusty, musty scent of attics. ("Smells like citrus actually," Iggy noted, turning his nose up like a puppy encountering a new scent. "_Pinesol, _right?")

A plush beige carpet had been put in, ("_Ecru_, Tally, _ecru_," Iggy corrected.) and a few bean bag chairs here and there, combined with the blue lights that from some vintage lamps…

Well, it looked more like a teenager's room, or a game room than the stereotypical attic.

The big windows also tempted Tally to go stand by it, but that was beside the point.

Tally let her backpack drop to the floor next to where Iggy did, wincing when the movement cause her a flash of pain to go dashing over the area of her injuries.

"So, er, Iggy," Tess said awkwardly while they began to get out a few things and make sure everything was there and accounted for…just in case. "Uh, how's life?"

Tally punched down her gag reflex and pretended to fix her gloves, her face impassive.

"Bad, I guess?" he said, blinking some confusedly. "I mean, you _have_ been watching the news, right?"

Burn one.

Tally could've grinned.

The West Virginians were so in for it.

So what if they had stolen Max, Fang and Iggy's first kisses? Didn't mean that they got dibs on them anymore—in fact, even if Talon's first kiss got killed, but she didn't shed a tear. She just watched coldly, under the haze of heavy anesthetic as his blood seeded out and tainted her then-white hair.

"Uh, right…well, I'm going downstairs…see if my dad needs help cooking or something…" with that, she turned around and quickly exited the room, the bird kids never missing the red of her ears.

Iggy rounded on them, "What the hell was that?"

"Language," Max reprimanded half-heartedly. "She was totally trying to hit on you. Tally, why didn't you help him out?"

She looked up at Max mischievously, flashed her a quick grin before giving the air a quick left hook. _I would've knocked her out, do I need to say more?_

Fang chuckled, nodding at his sister then having one of his little "eye" conversations with Max.

Iggy sighed theatrically, rubbing the back of his neck, "They're doing the creepy thing again?"

_Of course._

-

_We have to wait for that damn idiot to finish before we can attack…_

Angel turned to the windows rapidly, blonde pigtails flying as she looked out to the rolling hills.

Where could anyone hide?

She scanned the landscape with her raptor vision, ignoring how Lissa and Nudge were calling her name—both verbally and mentally, whether they knew it or not.

_People can't hide anywhere around here…the forests are too far away for me to hear their thoughts, unless they ran in there _really_ fast and the only people who can run that fast out of my range are Max and Fang. Maybe Iggy if one of us is chasing him. But…_

She directed her eyes up, ignoring the little gray specks in the ceiling tile and narrowing her eyes a bit. If only she had x-ray vision or something!

And like clockwork, a soft babble of thoughts—like a faintly gurgling river—entered her head. Little snips of thoughts here and there, (_Idiot—should smack him—ng II—better hurry the he—Imma smack this schmoe—) _ that clearly showed the nature of the person that was somewhere _above_ the house.

It couldn't be Flyboys or Erasers—obviously, she had read the minds of one of the scientists in Germany, they had all been terminated—and flying Goblins… (she shivered a little) no. The only other plausible explanation she could come up with was—

_Something with wings is above the house!_

She bit her lip then looked back at Nudge and Lissa, smiling, "Sorry, I thought I heard Iggy think something weird."

Lissa beamed mischievously, "Oooh, what was it? Maybe we can trick someone with it!"

Angel gave Lissa her most innocent smile and picked out something random he heard the tall blind boy thinking about all the time, "He's thinking something about…Max PMSing?"

Lissa turned bright red, "Ahem, well then…right…back to playing Candyland then?"

-

When mom came walking through those doors, I gave a smile that made my jaw hurt a bit. But then it turned to confusion when I caught some hesitation in her…then pure fury.

But maybe I was a bit swayed and stir crazy by then. I mean, Mr. Abate, who turned out to be Tess's dad, got to putting a meatloaf in the oven , practically making us all drool. And the red haired wonder was buzzing around, Dylan couldn't make up his mind between Tally or me, Fang was teasing Iggy about his fetish for tall girls with T-names, Gazzy, Angel and Nudge were running amuck…

Overall pandemonium.

But everything practically came to a standstill when I spoke in a deathly calm voice, nails biting into my palms, "Why the hell is Jeb here?"

"Well, Max," my mom said, wringing her hands while Ella looked over her shoulder at me. "He sort of…stuck."

Yeah, I could believe that. He was gum that wouldn't come of your favorite pair of shoes.

"Jeb," I turned to him, teeth gritted. "Why are you breathing my air?"

He gazed at me steadily, unafraid of my glare, "I can help."

I don't know who snorted, but someone did; one of the stoic twins most likely.

"Oh, yeah? How do you plan to help? You have some _Make-the-World-Sane-Again_ button on you? An easy button that we don't know of? Cause it'd be real useful about now."

He adjusted his coat then spoke in that even voice that infuriates me. The one that practically says _I know more than you_. "Lets all get inside, Max, then we can discuss this."

"Hopefully, his plans are up to par with yours, Max," Iggy grumbled, either insulting both Jeb and I, complimenting me and not Jeb or…yeah, I can have Tally beat him up for that later.

I don't think anyone really liked the plan that spewed out of Jeb's lips once we were all sitting. In fact, Mom, the lady I was introduced to as Dr. Brigid Dwyer, Mr. Abate and the rest of us Flock members stood up more than once, banging fists and completely outraged with how completely _stupid_ and _dangerous_ his plan was.

"Max," Angel said suddenly, turning to Dylan who kept frowning. She pointed and said with the same solemnity that the boy who said _I see dead people_ had. "I need to speak to you after this…and him."

Huh?

-


	43. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

The evening was _extremely _tense (I mean, chuck a rock and it will barely _dent _it tension) after Jeb gave his idiotic suggestion of a plan.

The Pyro Trio had retreated to the living room. Tally was building a little Lego house around the sort-of card fort that Iggy and Gazzy were trying to construct. Ella had gone upstairs with Nudge and Angel to do some bonding. The part that I didn't like? Tess and Lissa had gone upstairs _with _them. All this mess was starting to really give me a headache.

"He's an idiot," Fang muttered into my ear from behind me.

I bit back the urge to wince and yell at his stealth. (I swear, one day I will punch him and he will regret ever sneaking up on me!)

"No duh," I murmured, leaning back on one foot and crossing my arms. "Waltzing in here and practically telling us to do a jig in front of the White House in our birthday suits."

Iggy and Gazzy snorted, having heard me say my comparison. From a corner of the house, I heard mom laugh at something this Brigid woman said. I winced, I didn't like that person. Not at all. Brigid gave me bad vibes, as if she could stab us in the back at any moment.

Then again, that could be said about every person we had ever met. (Yeah, our luck _sucked_ majorly.)

I turned my eyes to the window, looking through the blinds at the setting sun, little striped of orange light bathing the room.

And something…just seemed off.

Maybe it was the Stoic Twin's brand of paranoia rubbing off on me, but I felt very uncomfortable in plain view of the window.

That was _never_ a good thing.

But Iggy wasn't freaking or anything. Yet, could his guard be down?

No, that wasn't possible. His guard went up the minute we met Dylan and had stayed up as far as I was concerned. (Not to mention the years of me grounding it into his head and him playing some prank on me in return for it.) Hell, he kept tilting his head when he heard a sound coming from upstairs then shaking his head when Tally (most likely) asked him what was wrong.

Great, but that still didn't explain why I was getting so danged antsy.

_Listen to Angel, Maximum_…

I blinked, cocking my head to the side. _She knows what's bugging me?_

_Listen to her._

Great.

_I always listen to her. When she isn't asking for a little Scottie dog or a fifty dollar bear. _

It had no witty, fortune cookie crap for me.

Ugh, I could've sighed. Even if the Voice had never been wrong didn't mean that it couldn't be annoying as heck.

A quick movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention.

And it certainly did make me smirk a bit to see Iggy holding his head a bit murmuring about "Tally giving him a migraine" while she put the little figurines in her mansion-esque Lego house.

Fang raised an eyebrow next to me, half smiling at Iggy as well. Then turning to me and giving me a look that just yelled, "Siblings, eh? Such amusing little people."

I nodded, chuckling a bit; you never had a dull moment with the flock. (Heh, like that one time when Angel made a silly food request and Iggy was left banging all of Mom's pots and pans and cursing as he tried to make it.)

"Why are you guys talking about colors?" Gazzy complained exasperated, snapping his fingers absent-mindedly and making a tiny flame appear and disappear like a lighter. "Blue is blue and green is green, gosh."

Tally slammed her hand on her head while Iggy put his hand on his eyes, "All colors are different Gaz, you'll learn when you're older."

Fang's twin rolled her eyes and shook her head with a dry smile on her face, swirling her finger in front of her ear in the classic cuckoo motion.

If anything, _those two_ were amusing.

-

Furious little scratching could be heard that night in the basement, a growing mountain of crunched up paper balls right by her.

Stick figures!

Why were they all she could manage?!

She scowled, glancing at the magazine that Lissa and Brigid had mentioned briefly before going off on their little "let's save the flock and be default the world! Sparkle sparkle, twinkle twinkle, squeal!" spiel.

Why was she working hard at scribbling and scratching on the paper?

Cause _normal_ girls were supposed to be able to do something _special!_

She couldn't cook very well by herself…at least not like Iggy.

Singing? Pssh, she'd leave that up to Nudge in her little audience of Shampoo and Conditioner bottles.

Drawing? (She threw down her pencil and paper) she'd leave that up to Fang if he ever decided to draw.

Dancing? Hell no. That meant wiggling around like an idiot, hands and feet flying…just, _no_.

So what did that leave?

Nothing.

She sighed and leaned back, her head and back touching the sofa next to Iggy's legs.

Why was she freaking over all this crap anyways?

She had to come to terms sooner or later that she _wasn't_ normal by any means necessary.

Being normal meant no more having the knowledge that she could kick some guy's ribcage in or win and Olympic foot race.

Or the more obvious down side to being normal: no wings.

Ugh, she flicked her pencil into the giant mound of scrunched up papers, watching it turn flat with a sort of fascination.

Lissa and Brigid were idiots anyways…trying to involve her in normal human day life and make her feel more accepted. Who did they think they were? Her shrinks or something?

She had half a mind to slap them.

And the only thing stopping her from getting up and doing just that was how she'd no doubt end up upsetting Angel, Ella and Nudge with slapping the crap out of those two…

Her mind turned to more pressing matters…like how Max tensed the heck up after she spoke to Angel, and had joined Fang, Iggy and Tally in looking out windows apprehensively. Well, Iggy more of just did it out of habit rather than to _see_ anything.

They didn't feel like Goblins, she was sure. But it was…like a Goblin-y coating sprinkled over the top…

"You're awake?" a groggy voice asked from above her.

She jumped a bit, almost thinking that it was God talking to her before she recognized the voice.

_Yeah…can't sleep…_ she thought, tilting her head so that she was looking at Iggy's eyes upside down. _Wanna go flying or something?_

He gave a small yawn and nodded drowsily. "Sure, let's go."

-

**MYSTERIES SURROUNDING WINGED CHILDREN**

_What have come to be known generally by the public as "Goblins" are now invading cities. Under the mania of searching for the alleged winged people (called angels by some, genetic freaks by others and even bringers of the Apocalypse) a series of strange events have gone unnoticed. _

_The sudden kidnapping of children, teenagers and young adults has seemed to have been overlooked as a result of the hunt. All over the world, they are being snatched up left and right._

_However, one common link among these victims is their part in underground protests called PRO-FLOCK. _

_PRO-FLOCK has been identified as a new version of "tree hugging." The most talked about event that goes on during these meetings are sharing plans for protesting and rebelling against the new laws created recently solely for the purpose of capturing of this so-called "Flock" and sightings of the winged people. _

_Conversely, the public is making it seem as if these children (because yes, they are essentially simply children with the misfortune of having wings on their backs) haven't been around. _

_**Fang's Blog**__ and __**Tally's Blog**__ have been around for ages. On these web pages you can see exactly what these children have been through. Scientific experimenting, the removal of sight and voice, attempting to surgically enhance neurological functions, stealth and so on; but it is true?_

_Our sources say yes, it is. The company talked about on these blogs is Itex. Be assured, if you were to check almost anything you owned, you would see that a majority of the luxuries and materials you own are from Itex._

_This company has been experimenting on children for many years, and the "Flock" is one of those successes among many deceased failures. _

_Itex was shut down a month ago, after a large rebellion—the early PRO-FLOCK members of the world banning together to "free the mutants."_

_Do not sigh in relief yet, in all the blogs it is hinted at that there is a new threat—one called the Facility. Talon Gh05t is a product of it. From what little details that can be gathered around the internet, she is the biological younger twin sister to Fang, had her vocal chords irreparably damaged and shipped off to the Facility before she could ever remember her twin. _

_At this Facility, she went under the same tests as her brother and his fellow experiments were. Endurance, running on electrically charged wires, flying in wind tunnels, being injected with a multitude of poisons and antidotes, put through situations that would test if they were apt to survive in the most extreme apocalyptical events. _

_Apparently, Gh05t escaped and met up with her brother's flock once again. Consisting of one Maximum Ride, himself, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Angel and Total._

_Is chasing these _children_ honestly a good idea? What of the Facility? Government cover up? _

_This article shall be continued in our next issue. _

-

"Oh, c'mon," she mumbled, annoyed. "You can keep up the shape shifting, can't you?"

The dark haired boy scowled, "Do you know how _annoying_ it is to be running around that house? Why can't we just send the Goblins in? They'd be much more effective than all this mess."

The youngest girl looked at him, her eyes almost seeming to glow green like an animals in the night. "No. The Madame doesn't want to risk any of her newest imports on this menial a task."

"Shut up," the girl said. "Why did you come with us? You should've stayed with that other one."

The younger one swayed slightly, "You need me to block the mind reader and numb the sensor from you both."

"Doesn't mean we have to like it," they snapped at the same time.

"Then don't. Your emotions do not matter to me. They are a hindrance to our task."

The older girl scowled, "You know, that vocabulary upgrade you got is _freaking_ annoying."

"You'd rather _she,_" the boy jerked his thumb at the little girl, leering. "Be asking us what words mean every two seconds with that stupid look on her face?"

"No, but still, she makes us seem so damn dumb this way!"

"Suck it up, T-II."

"When _you_ do, dumbass."

-

That morning, I woke up on edge.

Well, more so than usual.

Maybe you know the feeling?

Hairs on the nape of my neck on end, a chill going through me event though I was wearing a gigantic hoodie.

So I gave the room an automatic sweep. (Tally and Iggy draped over each other looking like they just came in, Gazzy's head on Nudge's stomach and Angel's on his, and Fang was at the window, staring out like usual…)

Nothing was out of place (besides our packs thrown to one corner and—Oh! Why was Ella in here?

I shot Fang a look that he didn't see, judging by how his eyes seemed misted over, flicking over the plains outside in a… sort of tired way.

So I scooted over to her, and shook her pink-shirt clad shoulder lightly, frowning at how warm she seemed even through the fabric. "Ella, sweetie, wake up."

"Huh?" she said, turning to look at me.

And she scared the crap out of me.

Cause staring back at me through my sister's eyes were _red_ irises.

Black rimmed, like with too much eyeliner, her lips going gray.

The hell was going on?!

**A/N: Apologies for the late chapter. Stuffs happened. Not of the bad variety though. Any thoughts on what happened?**


	44. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

"MOM!" I called out, snatching the first blanket I saw ("Hey!" Gazzy complained, instinctively curling into a ball for warmth.) and throwing it over Ella. "Mom! Get up here!"

The flock, of course, woke up really freaking fast—most likely expecting an ambush.

I put Ella's head in my lap, trying to calm my breathing. I put a hand to her face and nearly cursed when the heat radiating off of her became too much.

"Ella, what happened?!" I asked frantically, hands moving over her uselessly, opening and closing. Seeing as she was probably in unimaginable amounts of pain, she didn't answer.

"Nudge," Fang said solemnly, having walked over to crouch beside me. "Go get an ice bag or a wet towel."

"Tally, go get mom and the adults. Angel, pass me those pillows, she seems in pain, Iggy, get your butt over here and figure out what's wrong with Ella," I commanded. No one bothered to argue with me, these types of decisions I made usually meant life or death—and that was very much the case right now.

"Max…" I looked up at Fang, his eyes reflecting a sort of soul-deep sadness. "Doesn't this look…familiar?"

What? What did he mean familiar? We hadn't dealt with anything like this before! I mean, Ella was _sick_ with something, wasn't she? She couldn't possibly have gone through anything that any of us had seen.

Ella hadn't been kidnapped recently as far as I was concerned, so that was definitely out.

But…

And then suddenly, in a burst of blinding clarity, I saw what Fang meant. I raised my hand to my mouth as if to rub something off, but instead tried to hide how I was gaping like a fish.

"I think Ella's been going to PRO-FLOCK meetings…" I muttered horrified, just as mom and the rest of the adults came racing in. Tally ghosted by them, her hands curled into claws as she stared at Ella owlishly.

"Has she?" Brigid asked mom, face completely twisted in concern. I quelled the urge to bare my teeth. I didn't need Brigid's help with this—or maybe it was because she reminded me so much of Anne Walker.

Mom, on the other hand, was turning as pale as Iggy, all color draining from her cheeks. "Once."

My heart thudded, unbearably loud. Iggy yanked Tally's arm forward and compared their pulses to Ella's, lips pulled down severely.

Taking a shaky breath I asked, "Did she come home with a cut or something? This is _really_ important."

Mom thought back, getting down on her knees by us, hands quaking like a leaf. "Yes. But she said it was from playing Basketball in PE. _Dios mio, que esta pasando?_"

On a dime, Iggy started moving his hands, searching for a bandage, a cut or something.

"Max, what's happening?" Nudge asked, eyes wider than usual. "Is Ella going to be alright?"

_Tell them…_the Voice said.

Of course I'd tell them! What other choice did I have? If everyone really wanted to help with this big problem we had then the best option there out there was to tell them!

I cleared all emotion from my face as best I could, folding my hands in my lap to make sure I didn't start panicking like mom was. "The Goblins, you guys remember how some of them have green tinted claws?"

Angel crawled over next to me, I can't ever know what it's like for her, dealing with all these emotions from _everyone else_ on top of her own.

Everyone nodded, save for the adults, this was actually _news_ to them. "Well, Fang and I think she might've…gotten scratched by one at a PRO-FLOCK meeting…"

"So you think she's turning into one?" Iggy concluded, freezing over Ella.

Fang and Tally shared a look, one of those creepy twin things, then looked back down at Ella sadly. There weren't any lights up here, so Gazzy had turned on a candle with a snap of his fingers, and it casted long shadows everywhere.

At the same time, the twins looked up and gave a grim nod.

-

Tally didn't really want to be the bearer of bad news, so she had been avoiding Angel.

She was practically attached to Iggy at the hip, the dark thoughts in a mini rebellion against her common sense.

If she and Fang barely survived the _effects _of the serum, how would Ella react to it? She was completely human, as far as she knew! One of those fragile people who could easily have their chests caved in like they were slammed into a telephone pole at forty miles and hour by _Angel_ for heaven's sake!

She'd die, that was what she and Fang were thinking, she was sure. Ella was going to die of the serum.

But...didn't she get it from a second hand source? Would that help any?

If she was that far along in the transformation…

Yet, her body could completely reject the serum!

Oh damn, if she rejected it the way the other experiments did…!!!

Tally squeezed Iggy's hand, then blinked when he didn't react in anyway.

_Iggy?_ she asked softly, looking into his eyes. _Iggy are you—?_

He put a finger up against her lips, "Tally…Jeb's idea…it isn't completely crazy, when you think about it…"

Tally stayed silent for a minute, her mind going into a sort of slack jawed silence. And then it kicked up speed and all it seemed to spew out was _HUH?! Are you freaking nuts?! It's the most ridiculous idea ever thought of! He's related to a bunch of rocks, I'm sure! No, the rocks _disown_ him and pick on him! Honestly, I've heard a lot of plans and rambling but what he said was so stupid and dumb and idiot-y that it completely beats every other stupid plan I've heard by a landslide! I mean—_

"Tally, just listen for a second, okay?" Iggy said, a tic in his eyebrow indicating he was getting irritated with her.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she slipped her hand out of his grip and crossed her arms, coiled like a snake, ready to refute anything he said.

"Listen and try to see it my way, okay?" he said, managing to sense the frothing waves of obstinacy rolling off of her. "If we do what he said, things might…cool down. Kids wouldn't get kidnapped anymore…and this crap would end and…we wouldn't be endangering everyone."

_That's only one reason and not a very good one, _she said frostily. _I don't care about everyone else. It's always been about the flock. Not us, okay? It's going to stay that way._

Iggy shook his head angrily, "No, Talon! How many people are lining up ready to turn us over because of what's happening? Whose fault is it that kids are dying for us? Ella is _dying!_ And all you can talk about is the flock?!"

_Yes! You're thinking like you _want_ to die! And that's what going along with Jeb's plan will do! I swear, I care about Ella too, but you have to think about us! Us or them?!_

"Them! Maybe I'm tired of all this! I don't see a happy ending for us, I don't see anything, and I am freaking tired of handling all this bullshit!"

_So you'd tell Angel, Nudge and Gazzy that you'd march them straight to their deaths right now? "No. We're letting you die because some other people want to live."_

"You're making it seem," he said, suddenly dangerously calm. "Like we'll be killed for sure."

_BAM!_

Iggy slammed against the wall, his breath spilling out in a _whoosh, _Tally's arm extended and hand curled into a tight fist.

Both of them were breathing heavily, as if they had run a marathon. Her eyes were like chips of rock, spitting fire. _I __know__ we'll be killed._

And with that, she stormed away.

-

Tally sat on the roof, where she and Iggy had been earlier, tracing the little red crescents she had made on her palm when she punched Iggy in the chest.

He was crazy! Absolutely and completely nuts! And he was being selfish!

They were only fifteen! Sure, he'd been out in the world five years but she'd barely seen it in the few months _she'd_ been out!

She didn't care about the other people, no, she wanted to be able to live happily, she wanted to be able to live to see the day when they wouldn't have to hide, or at least wait until their expiration dates kicked in!

She raked a hand through her hair, squeezing her eyes shut.

Ugh, why did she hit him? Even worse, he didn't do anything back…he just sort of froze.

That's haunt her alright. Her fist on his chest, his hair flopping in front of his eyes and mouth opened in surprise.

The hell was she thinking?!

She got to her feet and began pacing, gray wings hanging out of her jacket for balance.

Should she apologize?

She wasn't the one offering stupid suggestions that had made no sense…

But did she have to react that way?

A cold breeze blew her long hair up, goose-bumps rising on her skin. She rubbed her arms for warmth, tilting her chin up in the direction of the sun.

_Ella…poor Ella…_

Suddenly, a sharp whistle reached her ears, followed by a whoosh that typically indicated someone dive bombing…

"Tal! Move!" Fang yelled, a black blur in the sky, being chased by others. Just as she shook her wings out, he barreled into her and they rolled off the roof, clashing and banging bones, into the covered pool. 


	45. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The first thing Tally thought while being launched into the pool with her brother was: _Why the hell is the freaking pool covered in summer?_

And then the more rational _WHO THE HELL IS CHASING US __**NOW?!**_

It was weird, she and Fang were far too tangled up to even poke a wing out to ease their blow, and everything was going in slow-motion.

Then…they just crashed into the pool, tore through the covering and treaded water.

_Oh god,_ Tally thought, her heart thudding hard, a large pit of dread settling in her stomach. The water surrounding them…it felt like a cage, pushing down on their chests, making their bodies panic from the unexpected change of environment.

Neither of them really could handle cages…

Her eyes snapped open, blurry and stinging at first, and then she kicked up towards where she saw the tear in the pool.

Fang was already trying to make the opening bigger so she got one side and started to pull as hard as she could, a desperate need to get out of the water and into the air where she actually had a chance of surviving filling her up.

Once it was big enough that they wouldn't risk getting their wings stuck, the got the hell out of there.

And Tally got her first glimpse of the attackers.

She couldn't believe her eyes, so instead she just shot her hands out and blew up the first thing she saw, a cold determination setting into her.

The ground by the girl with short spiky hair went up in a mess of dirt, grass and rocks, sending her flying in the other direction. Tally shook out her wings, trying to get them dry again while searching for the other threats.

"Tally! Stop fooling around!" Fang called.

Her eyes focused in on him, fighting with a male that was smaller than him but was matching him kick for kick and punch for punch.

Then that left one blur…

She was tackled to the ground for the second time that day, the same girl with spiky hair punching her jaw.

_You get off of me!_ Tally thought savagely, the pain from landing on her back coming in thrashing waves, ramming her knee up to fling the small girl off.

"AH!" she screeched, going through the barn's wall and landing in a pile of straw.

Tally sprinted in to finish off the girl, her mouth stinging and a gory mess.

The hideously loud report of a gun stopped her cold in her tracks.

-

I was inside, over Ella. The black in her color would ebb and flow, managing to make me and mom go from hopeful to worried, on this really horrible rollercoaster.

Right now, she looked like she was the loser of a bad fight with bruise like black and blue markings scattered over her like polka dots, her hands twisted into makeshift claws.

We had her in a room with all the lights turned off, blankets thrown over windows and taped shut with boxes over _that_ since the light seemed to actually hurt her to some extent.

She couldn't talk very well. Or at all, I guess.

Like she had a really bad sore throat, except that we couldn't understand anything she attempted to tell us.

Iggy had taken a seat by me earlier, and I had asked him why he wasn't with Tally since it was weird to see them separated after she sort of forgot her big depression.

He didn't answer for a while, only shrugged and stared at the wall in a deep-in-thought way, raking a slightly trembling hand through his hair on occasion.

I didn't ask.

I actually thought he was worried about Ella.

_BAM!_

My head snapped up with the sound, eyes widening and jumping to my feet—fight or flight instincts kicking in.

"What was that?!" I asked Iggy, adrenaline already starting to pump through me.

"It sounds like…" he began, brows knit together in concentration, sightless eyes landing on Ella's feet. "Like Fang told Tally to move…and someone's in the air with them…"

That was more than enough for us.

We rushed out of the door then made a beeline downstairs and out the doors, during the course of this the younger kids saw our urgency and followed us.

They must've recognized the very common they've-found-us-and-we're-gonna-have-to-fight look on my face.

Unfortunately, a look I had to shoot at them often.

When we got outside, what met us wasn't a pretty sight. The barn was torn to ribbons, the cover on the pools had been massacred, some tiles were missing from the roof and it looked like a Tally-caused explosion had happened.

What was the first thing that I thought while taking in the scene before us?

"Ah crap…don't tell me they've been kidnapped again."

"No, they haven't…yet," said a low female voice.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Who the hell was sneaky enough to sneak up on all of us?!

-

Before we know it, we're stuffed in the back of a van, being shipped off to only God knows where.

They had us in cages again, Tally and Fang dumped into one, Gazzy and Angel, Nudge and Total, Iggy and I got one to ourselves it seemed.

We were all bruised up and it was freaking dark in here, and he fact that the twins always wear black didn't help me out in trying to figure out why they were completely knocked out.

The girl it turned out had come with three friends.

And a whitecoat.

The whitecoat had been trying to gather information from the inside and was waiting for the right time to contact the head honcho about where the heck the bird hybrids were.

Ugh, I never liked Brigid, have I mention that? Or her little nephew Dylan trying to cozy up to us.

Lissa had been completely innocent and didn't know what the heck was going on.

All of the normal humans had come stampeding out of the house when, I guess, they heard the sounds of bombs going off and a vicious battle that could have rivaled World War II.

But Total was quick to yell at them to take cover (actually being useful without me telling him to).

We had fought.

We had fought pretty dang hard.

But that didn't mean that we didn't fall for a change.

All of us were sporting battle wounds, some more than others.

The twins…we couldn't tell what was wrong with them. As they had been shoving us into cages I only had a brief glimpse of this glass crate with breathing holes being shoved in far away from the rest of our cages.

Nudge pulled her knees up, petting total, her hair a snarled mess of curls going in every direction and crusted with blood in some places. "Max…what's the plan?"

What an _excellent_ question.

-

Tally woke up quickly to her wings being forcefully pulled out of her shirt, the jingling sound of chains shoving her into a frantic state of mind.

She turned her head around to look at what was happening but found that there was a thick strip of metal going around her neck that connected with the handcuffs and whatever chains they were putting on her wings.

She tried to raise her elbow to give a good strong jab in the ribs to whoever was trying to confine her.

But she found that she couldn't really…find the strength to _move._

Her heart leapt a bit at the desperate situation.

She looked straight ahead and saw that the rest of the flock were….wearing white scrubs…and chained up.

She tilted her head forward to let her hair curtain her away.

On a scale of one to ten—in a van with some spiky haired chick that looked like a pint sized version of her, what looked like Fang's clone and Angel's clone and Dylan and Brigid…--this was easily a thirteen on the "oh freaking shit" scale.


	46. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

It was impossible to count the amount of spectators that had gathered to watch the winged children be marched into the special "observation" facility in Washington D.C.

A myriad of people, ranging in ages and nationalities, whispered and hollered, talked and fought, waiting for the grand moment in which they'd see these "children."

However, many argued that these weren't children at all. Many called them abominations.

Beings brought up straight from hell.

Then there were those spiritualists…those whom called the children angels. They cried blasphemy at the capture of them, yet could not resist attending the "show." Everyone wanted cold hard proof that these _things_ were worth all of the mayhem that happened world wide. All of the kidnappings, all of the violence, all of the guns, all of the pure greed that manifested at the offer of money for capture…

News Stations, there was an abundance of those, all eager reporters ready to be the very first to get the story out. Rookies were uncoiling wires and cords, assistants were bitterly bringing water and little napkins for the reporters, a mint here, a compact mirror there. Reporters snapping at everyone, thinking this would be there big break, thinking how they'd get out of here and go onto Hollywood after this big story.

While the humans hustled and bustled, Mr. George Harry and his four year old daughter walked the street, avoiding the big commotion. Mr. Harry had left his wife in the crowd, conversing idly with whoever would lend an ear, to go fetch a nice cup of hot chocolate for all of them at the nearest coffee shop.

Yet, no one in the crowd, not even Mr. Harry and his daughter, saw the shadowy figures stalking the surroundings, the big hulking masses with glowing red eyes shaking the darkness and consuming the light in the grand shadows they casted.

They leapt from roof to roof, and none of the many cameras in the area caught any glimpse of them. They moved fast…oh so fast! That played a part in how they seemed invisible to the cameras, however, the fact that the cameras had been "fixed" by a certain scientists also was a key component to what later would have many detectives scratching their heads in befuddlement.

Mr. Harry's daughter kept close to him, in the oddly chilly summer night, her red curls pulled into a tight pony tail. She looked up at her father, and smiled as giddily as any other four year old at what she was told was a "parade."

However, they stepped too close to the shadows…

The Goblins merged on them in a flurry of movement, claws flashing, a streak of lime green fluid flopping onto the floor…

Mr. Harry and his daughter didn't have time to scream as they were hauled away, comically small in the arms of the monsters.

Mrs. Harry went on talking to this woman in a white coat; coding her true words within niceties and small talk. Knowing that the liabilities were being eliminated as she spoke.

All altercations were to be avoided today.

All of Kravtsov's workers were making sure that everything was in place, down to the last minute detail…

Heads would role if something went awry.

Kravtsov had gone to great lengths to emphasize that _nothing_, no matter how incredibly small a task seemed, absolutely nothing was irrelevant. In fact, every single thing, down to the precise place the bleach was placed in the Janitor's "office" was extremely relevant to the task at hand.

The semi came rolling down the street at precisely eight-oh-two pm. An eerie silence, no longer than four or five heart beats, settled upon them before the silence turned into a roar of voices.

Their was a space of exactly fifteen yards on every side of the semi as it parked at the beginning of the walkway that began from the black iron gates of the series of buildings that would house the bird children, and went on for one mile, give or take a millimeter.

The moment the semi stopped and opened its doors, whispers were all that was heard, fluctuating in volume.

What came out of that semi was terrifying.

Seven emaciated children were walked out, all of them fairly tall and wearing scrubs, wings hanging out the back of their scrubs limply and chained in every single way to confine them from much movement.

The first to walk out was a dirty blonde hair girl, limping forward with a defiant look on her face despite her current situation.

The second and third were two siblings, blonde blue eyed children with tear stained cheeks, the girl cradling an arm, the boy sporting a bloody nose.

Next was an African-American girl carrying a little muzzled black Scottish terrier.

Then came the tallest three of the group…

One of the boys, it seemed, was blind, and this received a very appalled gasp from the crowd.

But those gasps were quelled when they saw the last two.

Dark haired twins, wide dark eyes, black wings, chalky skin and pale lips—they looked like death's children, marching along, scarlet dripping behind them, one from a leg the other dripping down her arm, over her wrists and from her finger tips.

All of the children walked with a sort of desolate manner. Though their chins were held high, backs as straight as can be, they looked defiant yet completely drained and as if they were looking at the world through a corpse's eyes. Blood spattered them, bruises marred their clear skin, wide slightly unnatural eyes turned black for some from the hit of a good punch. The children (for that is precisely what they looked like; children on Halloween in make-up so realistic looking that concern sprung from parents—simply innocent children being hauled away into a scary building unfairly, with no one to stand up for them.) looked like prisoners, with the wings of angels hanging out delicately, being marched to their execution.

"MAX!" a voice called from the crowd. "MAX! You can't let them do this!"

She looked up, a lock of stringy hair flopping in front of her face. No sign of recognition miraculously flashed through her eyes like in movies, she didn't suddenly come up with the name of the boy who had called her name out, no, it was all very anti-climactic.

But everything was communicated through the one look in Max's eyes. Through the blinding flashes of cameras, all wiring the hybrids up for they were similar to the flash of gun when fired, she gave that one small message with profound meaning.

It spoke volumes about the situation and how entirely hopeless it was…

Beyond that, no one noticed what she was also trying to say. _I guess we went through with Jeb's plan anyways…we've given ourselves up…but how are we going to get people to believe __**us**__?_

-

I didn't like this one bit.

A sour taste was in my mouth.

All these people were watching us, just watching us be marched up to where we'd be experimented on, where unthinkable things would be done to us, all being captured on tape like some stupid MTV reality show. Well, Science Fiction would be a more accurate one, I guess.

I could only imagine what would be done to us inside that big building. It was tall and imposing, sterile white, with big columns. Windows enforced with chicken wire, and from what I could see, there were plenty of fields out back, and the same type of energy field over it as the one Facility where Tally was being held captive.

A few dozen whitecoats stood in front of it. Clipboards at the ready, pens held steady in hands, and looking perfectly perfect. The smell of alcohol and bleach…it was like when someone with really strong bad perfume sits in front of you on the bus.

That's when we started squirming and opening our mouths to try to breathe, goose bumps rising on all of us.

It had to be that stupid shot they gave us in the semi that had us so subdued. Some sort of tranquilizer maybe?

I don't know but I was certainly going to let it be known that I did _not_ want to be enclosed in a dog cage. Ever.

We had to follow that plan Jeb cooked up.

Except maybe improvise it a bit.

"Bandada, bezheet, she-chass!" I murmured out of the corner of my mouth.

None of the humans could have heard me. They were far away from us. But I could hear Fang, far in the back, answer in a hoarse voice. "We're _chained down_. How are we supposed to fly away from this one? Mmph!"

The last part was likely from one of the guards surreptitiously poking him in the back with his electric rod.

"We yell," I said, pulling my wrists apart a bit to test the strength of the chains one last time. "Just follow my lead, ok?"

I turned to look back at my flock, and saw the weary nods they gave. How Angel and Nudge had a glassy look in their eyes and Gazzy was turning red from the effort of holding back tears. The stoic twins betrayed no emotion and Iggy just seemed like all the hope was sucked out of him forcefully.

_It's not going to be hard,_ I thought to myself, eyeing all the people (freaks) that were watching us with eagle eyes. _I just have to start screaming really loud._

I took in a deep breath, extending my wings as much as I could and started yelling about Itex, about the Facility, about how I didn't want to be in a cage again…

And the rest of the flock followed closely.

Which was exactly what got the crowd riled up…when they electrocuted Angel and Gazzy as an example for the rest of us…

That was what made the rest of us snap. Callings of "You leave them alone!" "Dirty sons of–!"

And when the powers started going haywire.

Signs levitating, balls of fire appearing, metal signs wrenching out of the ground, horrible illusions, screeching voices projecting through thoughts, ground exploding, people screaming about their sight being taken away…in all essence, hell broke loose.

The crowd started screaming hysterically, retreating from us, more guards came for us…

Maybe losing our tempers wasn't the best avenue we could have taken.

-

"The bird children have shown proof of their apocalyptic powers," said the news reporter, a little looping clip of the destruction that was the surrounding area of the observation Facility. "But what mystery are they leaving for us to solve? Are these children heaven sent deities? Are they angels? Or are they merely the product of illegal experimentation? Tomorrow, we have an interview with Dr. Valencia Martinez and Ella Martinez, a special Exclusive brought to you by CNN!"


	47. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Apocalypse.

That's what a whole bunch of these people were afraid we'd bring.

Just because our powers appeared and went nuts when we saw the youngest of our flock get electrocuted…

We'd been placed in this big room, they took away the chains but it didn't stop us from huddling up in one corner, as close as we could. Nudge and Gazzy were practically attached to Iggy and Tally, both of them trying, oh trying so hard, to get the younger ones to calm down a bit, despite how they usually were the first ones to break down. Angel was holding both Fang and my hand in a death grip, Total on her lap.

Every once in a while, someone would look up and share this hopeless look. No one ever said anything; we just sat there, in silence, waiting for whatever came at us. And trying not to lose faith.

We don't know how long we spent in the sterilized room since no light came in or out, so we were left there in the dark for a good long time. In these moments, my thoughts ran rampant. Everything from "we have to escape" to "damn I need to pee."

Seconds stretched on and on, then hours…and days maybe.

No one bothered to come in to make sure the bird kids were fed.

No one came in to make sure e hadn't escaped.

No one bothered with us at all.

And that's when Fang figured out our first test.

"They're starving us…" he croaked one day, his deep eyes aimed at the wall, a smidge of horror—so slight you could hardly tell—in his voice.

Tally raised her head from where it had been resting on Nudge's shoulder.

We were so screwed.

Sure…I was meant to save the world…but who was going to save _me?_

-

On the outside, people were still rattled that any children could wield such dangerous powers: powers that flared to life at the mere flash of a strong emotion.

The biggest story of the century…

Reporters were lining up at the doors of The Facility, wanting to see the condition in which the children were kept and the experiments and be as quick as possible to be the first one with news out.

PETA members were confused. Were these children actually children or were they just human-like birds?

So that is why when the interview with Ella and Dr. Valencia Martinez came around, the whole world gathered.

Everyone thought they were frauds…until they saw the state of Ella Martinez.

The pretty Hispanic girl was caught on one of her "good" days. The Goblin's poison affecting her weirdly. Her lips were cracked with black and spider webs of black marred her skin, her eyes a horrid deep bloodshot.

"My daughters," began Dr. Martinez. "Are Maximum Ride and Ella Martinez. Max is a transgenic GMO, that is, a genetically modified organism—a human-avian hybrid, a product of Itex. Ella, however, was born normal and completely human unlike her sister. It wasn't till recently that she was attending a PRO-FLOCK meeting that she began the transformation into a Goblin."

-

Tally had no idea what day it was.

All she knew was that what they were being put through was pure hell.

Not even a few hours after her brother's revelation, and a bunch of whitecoats tromped on in to start taking DNA samples, muttering stuff under their breaths.

But she was so damn dizzy and out of it, it just all melted together.

They started taking them out of the room, one by one.

Who was first?

Of course—Max.

And it was extremely sad, two Goblins just tromped on through the doors, yanked her up by her forearms and dragged her out without any resistance on her part.

They all went, but no one spoke of what happened, they couldn't. Mobility was an issue now. Talking was too taxing of a task.

When Tally went, she got the same treatment as everyone else would soon get.

They paid no attention to whether she could walk or not, but just dragged her out.

She was tied down to a chair, a tray of gleaming syringes in front of her, different fluids in little bottles of all colors lied out right in front of her.

The whitecoats went to work quickly, putting on mint green latex gloves, masks and goggles, as if she was some sort of dangerous animal with a contagious affliction. She certainly felt like an animal.

The sad fact of it was, because they had starved her, she was just about as ready to flick her hands and cause illusions to start bouncing off the wall as an amateur trapeze artist with no safety net. So could she even defend herself as some alien fluid was pumped through her blood stream?

No.

Tingling, she felt a strange tingling sensation floating through her system, then closely followed by sharp jolts of electricity dancing through her veins.

The whitecoats observed the effect of the drug on her system, wrote down how her eyes were quickly becoming bloodshot, the blood vessels that popped and the scarlet that dribbled down her lips and hit to floor with a splat.

But one of the whitecoats observed the strange green coloring the vomit…

If her stomach had been clear of anything, only a clear bile would have come up…but no, this was mixed with red and green. A glowing green.

"Abandon the test!" called the male whitecoat, slamming his clipboard down.

"Why, Tolstoy?" asked another. "She hasn't even gotten to stage two, like Maximum did."

"Because this one has internal bleeding and GH05T serum in her, you ignoramus," Mikhail Tolstoy responded angrily, taking off the restraints from the girl. "Put her on a gurney and roll her to the infirmary."

-

The skies were snarling, big black birds were gathering and circling, lightning was dancing and though it was summer, the plants were dying.

No child could go outside to enjoy the warm sunshine, for either it was raining, or it was painfully cold (yet no snow, oddly enough).

More and more people were becoming convinced of the powers of the Apocalyptic Angels.

Was God punishing them for ever capturing them for their own selfish reasons?

Was this another Black Death?

Teenagers, toddlers, adults—all were falling ill. Fingers turning black, lips, eyes, green substance…aching limbs and blood in urine…

Professionals and physicians across the map were accusing the black death, rats and fleas—everything pointed at it! So what else could it be?

Would they believe that there were strange scientifically created creatures roaming out there, infecting people and letting them die? Of course not, practically scientific blasphemy. It was about as preposterous as the religious leaders of the world announcing themselves as scientologists or green aliens.

But it was.

The GH05T serum was running rampant across the entirety of the world, and many were seeking out Dr. Martinez and the CSM for medical care. She, so far, had been the only one to keep her child from dying or "disappearing."

The CSM was quickly gaining much power; both politically and in the medical sense.

But no matter how much PRO-FLOCK advocating they did, no one really cared much for the children (and dog) with wings.

Most people actually sought out their deaths.

-

They had finally given us some food, but barely any.

We were eating in silence when they erected this sort of wall to separate the room. We made a ton of jangling noises as we scrambled away from the door. None of us dared to use our powers, for fear that they'd somehow pull on the little energy we had.

But then they set up the room like a hospital. Heart monitors, IVs, oxygen tanks, throw-up buckets, mops, brooms, clip boards and dry erase boards—but instead of the comfy beds you got in the hospital, there were these hard gurneys with a thin mattress thrown over and these weird adjustments I could only assumer were for wings.

Which meant they were for two of the flock…

My mind immediately jumped to the twins, who were out of the room. Did they get sick again? Were they somewhere in this God forsaken building being tortured to the point where they'd need to be in a make shift Intensive Care Unit room?

The thing they'd given me didn't affect me too bad, compared to what's been done to me in the past. But it was a nasty shock to me, that thing shocking me from the inside out then making me black out for five minutes (according to the whitecoats).

Sure enough, a few Goblins came tromping into the room in all their ugliness, dumping the twins on a bed each.

First one to notice the smell coming off them was Iggy, he covered his nose quickly and asked "Jeez, what died?"

We all gave Gazzy accusing looks before we noticed it was the twins.

They smelled of death.

Blood was drying at their mouths, their skin had a ghostly white pallor, their lips were purple-ish and chapped, their veins standing out and their dark hair serving only to make them look sicklier.

I didn't want the kids to hear me…but it looked like we were all going to die here. Whether we liked it or not.

Maximum Ride was out of plans.

-

Fang dreamt of angels while in his illness induced sleep.

He walked around the earth, wiggling his own black wings, and watching colonies of people flying around so blissfully.

Then from the East, came the swarms of locust, the haze of red and the flock.

He rubbed his eyes. What the hell was this?

Some messed up metaphorical crap?

Did the Voice hack into his head and decide to feed him fortune cookie garbage?

But it was clear what the dream wanted him to do.

Max was reaching out for him, while the angels in the colonies threw stones and pebbles at her.

He extended his hand to help her, but when he finally grasped her hand, it turned into dry bones and rats skittered across his feet.


	48. Chapter 47

There were a few moments in the day (or night) that some Goblin would come in and haul us out. We didn't really put up much of a fight.

What could we do?

We weren't stupid. With the twins down, and us starved, we had zero chances of getting out of here. Jeb's plan coming into play or not.

So, they just experimented on us.

Very painful stuff, ranging from fights with Goblins…fights amongst ourselves…and lots of injections that hurt like a cast iron snitch!

But in between that, in the little dungeon Iggy had cheerfully begun to call our Death Chamber, Fang would mutter stuff, or we'd get a sudden random picture in our heads.

That always reminded us of those two, deathly pale, hooked up to who knows how many machines.

Apparently, Tally did get a new power. Or at least, it got amplified, I guess. She could project the scenes in her head. She didn't have to touch anyone.

But that wasn't really a good thing.

From what Iggy and Angel (and hell, we could all see how her face just twisted around, breaking out of its usual stoic mask) tell me, it only happened because she was feeling extreme emotions. Pain, horror and depression being the most common ones that would cause us all to be slammed with some sort of vision…

One of them was really weird though.

It's was like I was in a deep, white void, the corners of my vision blurred. And then I heard echoing sobs and a chilling voice, "Where are my wings?!"

I whip around to look—by then I assumed I was seeing things through Tally's eyes—and see her there, wearing a thing black dress with an open back.

First my eyes trailed to the ground, seeing the dark pool she was sitting in, then I see her hands fisted in her lap, her head hanging.

And finally her back—where the wings were supposed to be gracefully extending from her shoulder blades, are two bloody black stumps, streaks of blood going down her back.

In a sudden movement, Tally is on her feet, holding my forearms, looking me in the eyes with pitch black eyes…no white. Her lips purple, red dripping from the corners. "Where are my wings dammit?!"

Then my mouth—well Tally's—opened up and let out a piercing scream that matched the other Tally's in tone and pitch and everything.

Sometimes it was another scene…like they were just feeding stuff into there heads.

Tally being separated from Fang, for one.

I think that was just one of the saddest things I ever had to experience.

They're just babbling in a little four year old way, and Tally glancing through a window let everyone know that I was in the next room.

Then at night, someone comes and yanks them apart. Fang is put with me.

And that scene just scrolls into one of Tally getting her voice screwed up…

I was so freaked out when I felt the ghost of sting crawling in my throat.

And yet…it was still so haunting.

We knew what Tally could sound like, we knew Iggy could see…and we knew that there had been an opportunity, even back at the Facility or School, for us to have been all together from the start.

And maybe then all of this crap wouldn't have happened.

* * *

"Where is she?!" a guy asked, peeking through the bars of some crates, yanking his head back when clawed hands or slime covered tongues lashed out at him. "Aleena!"

He ran ahead, thoughts coursing through his head.

Last he checked, she had been kidnapped while doing something stupid for this group with instructions he had given her without any question.

Next thing he knew, he was getting a text from one of her friends saying she was gone.

So, logically, he convinced them to snoop around her room for him, check the computer and everything…

And he found out exactly what he needed.

She had been taken to some building in DC to be experimented on.

That wasn't all…good news.

No, his knuckles were very much bleeding from where he'd smashed his fist into a wall.

After running around his place, trying to figure out what the hell to do and pacing and going through so many worst case scenarios…

He gathered his things, packing light, and got a ticket for DC, having hacked into the Facility's system and given himself a job there as an assistant technician. (Basically, a low enough job that he wouldn't need to know much…but high enough that he'd be given access to a few areas…and it took him _so_ damn long to figure out which job would give him the most advantages!) And found a guy to help him.

After much time, even having to have to pull in the bird kids into their rooms (and trust him, he nearly threw up his lunch afterwards, with how bloody and dead looking they were), he finally figured out where she was. Where _his_ Aleena was.

Locked in the seventh floor of the North Wing, Section 8.

However, now he found himself losing his temper, looking through all of the rooms for her.

His running created little thumping sounds, ones that drove a few of the "tenants" wild and caused high pitched screeching to start.

He stopped when he reached the training room.

All the files he had hacked into and read just screamed that the training room in this section was for the more dangerous and unstable specimens. The ones more likely to just incinerate you with whatever power that spontaneously manifested in them before they ever got your name.

But damn it! It was the last room left!

So he slid his card through and entered the code (you'd be surprised how easy it was to get through a place with enough security to make the pentagon take a walk of shame).

He was going to have to tread carefully.

The hall was white, like everything else, but styled more to look like a Prison's solitary confinement ward—big steel doors with tiny slots, except little files and clipboards were on the side, numbers scrawled across the doors and the electric fields so common to this place flashed all over the handle.

Pulling out his electric rod, he started looking at the clipboards. Flipping back to the retrieval mission.

And he just went through a big struggle to keep down his complete revulsion.

The children in the ward ranged from five years of age to sixteen, all of them having been taken from places most taken from Florida with a few taken from Georgia and Alabama.

He took a shaky breath, the pain he had felt the entire time he was in this hell hole increasing. These poor kids!

Yet, no matter how much he felt like letting them loose, he knew that most of them were far too gone.

He would have to decide whether or not Aleena was too far gone as well…

He shook his head and continues on, until he reached door 12.

There was her name at least…and a picture of her next to it.

Aileen Fernandez, Subject 12H.

He ran a hand through his hair, his dark green eyes filled with anxiety.

He had made it all this way! Nevertheless…did he want to risk taking her out? Taking his sweet angel out of this hell hole, where she never belonged, knowing that she possibly could have been turned into an experiment?

The boy shook his head and slid his key into the slot.

The field on the handle flickered off with a tiny fizz, and the door swung open. He squinted his eyes, looking through the darkness of the tiny cell, searching for familiar curly locks and a tinkling little laugh.

"Do I have another task?" an apathetic voice asked.

His heart sunk into his stomach. Shakily, he called out to the girl hidden in the shadows. "Aileen?"

"Huh? Who is it?" and she stepped out. Her eyes a deep brown, almost black, and loose curls, boy-short and spiked.

It was then, her feline wide eyes, widened almost comically. "Kaiden!?"

And she ran at him and hugged him tight.

"Who else would it be, cutie?" he asked, smiling.

She looked up at him, glistening tears going down her scarred cheeks, a little mischievous smile on her lips. "The Easter bunny!"

He chuckled, "In this place I wouldn't be surprised…come on…this guy that helped me wants us to help him release some people…"

Aileen stopped the twenty year old, surprising him with her new found strength. She reached up, and pressed her lips to his.

He blinked a bit before he noticed she had maneuvered away from him and was already at the door, calling his name to leave.

Well, at least he knew she hadn't changed.

Off to see Jeb Batchelder, in any event.

* * *

Iggy was dying.

Fang and Tally were dying.

And they had just taken the younger kids all away from me…

Was I going to be the last one standing?

I held my knees up to my chest, crying, holding Iggy's hand as he just kept spitting up blood.

I knew what that meant…internal bleeding.


	49. Chapter 48

"We have to save the California flock…ugh, great," Cookie muttered, scowling and running up ahead of Kaiden.

"What do you have against them?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow as she just looked at the door before opening it and sprinting again. God, the uniform he was wearing was so damn uncomfortable to move in! No wonder everyone looked like they had something shoved up their butts!

Chances were if he ever mentioned it to Aleena (which he wouldn't, no way in hell), she'd say it was a tampon or something.

She gave a sarcastic laugh, "For one, ever since I've been here, my thoughts on them have …changed."

Turning on her heel, she began running backwards, mildly surprising to Kaiden. She used to be such a klutz! Now look at her! Executing moves like some ballerina, for god's sake!

The light green tile sort of moved with her.

"You're in this place, right? They do a zillion tests on you. Not all of them humane in the least. Like how they tried to test out this power of mine that manifested. And they tell you things about the Flock that would make even _you_ froth at the mouth, love."

Kaiden rolled his eyes at her. Him? Lose his temper? About as possible as Aleena giving up singing, no matter how much she sucked at it.

"Well," she started up again, reaching to rub her thigh as if it hurt. "That…and I was assigned to the team that brought them here in the first place. That Tally girl really packs a punch. I had to have surgery done on my legs for it! And it really hurt!"

Not like she had a choice in rescuing the flock or not anymore. Jeb had told them to, and Kaiden and Aleena owed him for helping them out.

The least they could do was set free a couple of experiments.

Albeit, the most known experiments in the world, currently.

* * *

"Where are we?" Iggy asked drowsily, rubbing his eyes.

"Same place as always," Fang responded curtly. "Tals should be around here somewhere…"

The black void was changing. The more of the flock that appeared there, the darker it got—wisps of purple, spiraling smoke just swirled about, the occasional crackle of static and lightning here and there, the acrid scent of death rising up, cold and heedless.

"Don't tell me it's the same place," Iggy muttered. "I've never been here!"

"Open your eyes, Iggy," a girl's voice said, walking out of the dark. "If I can talk in this place, then you can see."

Tally sighed, reaching out to touch a wisp of smoke, watching blankly as it disintegrated at her touch.

"Where the hell are we?" Iggy asked, looking around in wonder, trying not to blink too often, as if his sight would disappear just like that.

Tally did a little turn, her black dress swishing with her. "I'm going to just take a guess and say we're dead." She shrugged, kneeling down to try and touch the "floor."

"How are we dead?! This isn't heaven!" Iggy protested, making to grab Tally. She simply danced out of his grasp.

"Then explain it to us. We've been stuck here for so long," Fang began, crossing his arms and clicking his tongue.

"The visions suck too. All full of death," Tally continued, spotting a butterfly and chasing after it.

"We must be in Hell," they finished together. Tally clapped her hands over the purple butterfly, a horrible stench erupting from it as it burst into blue shards.

_It sucks. A lot. But at least theirs no more worrying about dying, or fighting each other. We're already dead,_ Tally smiled, dancing over to Iggy and hugging him, he pressed his lips to her soft hair out of habit. Whatever they had been fighting about (what was it again?) completely forgotten in what was…the afterlife.

But it didn't feel right.

How could they be dead?!

* * *

Cookie bit her lip, staring at the key pad in front of her hard. Maybe if she…

No. That wouldn't work.

What if she…?

No. That either.

Kaiden gave a tiny cough behind her, "Need help?"

She flapped her hand at him, "No, I can do this by myself!"

He chuckled a bit, "Love, you can't do everything yourself. Here, let me."

She huffed and moved aside, pouting. "Fine Mr. I'm-a-freaking-super-nerd," she said in a mocking tone.

Just a few seconds later, and the door they were at slid open with some squeaks and groans.

"HUH?! What did you do?!" she questioned, looking at him like he was an alien.

"Opened the door, obviously!" he said, teasingly. "After all, my name is Mr. I'm-a-freaking-super-nerd."

Cookie muttered some then mumbled, "Fine!" and she raced ahead, her boots making a flash indicating the muffle feature was on.

"Look!" she said, coming to a sudden, screeching halt. "The California Flock's room!"

She went to just slam the door open, but a firm and slightly calloused hand on her bare shoulder stopped her.

"Aww, what _now?!_" she asked impatiently.

Kaiden shook his head, "How in hell did they trust you to capture these guys? Last I checked they've been slipping out of more experienced people's hands for about a year now!"

Cookie glared, whipping out a gun and spinning it like in the old western films. "Cause, they gave me this, and they gave me other awesome stuff, plus I have a cool _power_ now. So nyah!"

_At the cost of you being tortured and being tested on by these maniacs,_ he thought bitterly, the glanced at a clipboard next to the room. All the tests they were going to do on the flock were in some code. If he was up to it, he'd just decode it.

No new tests. All he saw was one that the younger kids had been brought back from about an hour ago. Max was the only one who didn't get it (not counting the dog), apparently. But why? Maximum was usually the one they wanted to either get rid of the most, or the one they wanted dead. So why leave her out? Why not use those mind altering drugs they used on every other kid they brought into this place?

He shook out of it when he felt Aleena's small hand tugging on his sleeve, her lips pulled down into a slight, questioning frown. Her eyes ever searching him.

He unlocked the door, using the security key Jeb had given him. He made to walk in, but stopped when he saw Aleena looking in hesitantly.

"You do realize…" she said softly, listlessly. "How completely messed up they—we are? Right?"

What do you mean us? Last I checked we were an insane couple as is," he said lightly, trying to get her to smile.

She aimed her eyes right at him, and he noticed for the first time how aged she looked. How haunted her eyes were. "I don't mean you and I. I mean 'we' in the sense of mutants. Me and the flock…we have more in common than you might think."

With that, she walked into the room.

Then, he noticed the scars lacing up her neck, the numbers just bellow her hairline.

His heart dropped, and the intense urge to throw up returned.

An expiration date. But weren't those out of commission?!

* * *

"Have you gotten those two to attempt to get the flock out?"

"Of course. How is rallying up the calvary coming?"

"Well. We still need another hour or two, but by then we should be all set up."

* * *

"It's another vision sequence," Tally muttered. She had just hopped onto an outcropping of the mist that swirled around them, her wings out. Shining and dark.

All the others were there.

Except for Max.

Iggy was right next to her, staring at the veins in her hands, slightly darker from the serum that polluted her blood, trying to piece together things that kept melting away from him.

The younger kids were here…but something was missing.

It was something they discovered, while in this wasteland.

Whenever they tried to think back to when they weren't stranded in what the twins happily called hell, they couldn't. They'd reach out, eager to remember whatever they had of their living lives, but it was as they were trying to grasp the very mist that entrapped them. It'd just melt back into the deep shadows, taunting them.

Angel could only use her telepathic powers.

That was about the only thing they really could do. Talk to each other silently. But what else was there to do?

Gazzy and Angel climbed up to where Iggy was, while Tally silently moved to the front with her brother, motioning a teary Nudge back with the rest.

They had no warning, so all of them wondered how the heck the twins could sense the sequence coming. But they did.

A humming noise filled the air, and then Max stood before them, with two people at her side, and Total at her feet.

They were just silent.

Watching each other.

"Get it over with," Iggy heard Tally whisper exasperatedly. "You can't prevent it."

Fang stopped, the black long sleeved shirt he was wearing showing nearly all his movements. Then he reached out to Max, how had held her own out as if to pull him into a hug.

And just like that, the visions of blood and death, gore and plague, pestilence and devastation—began.

* * *

"Who are you?" I asked, making to stand up, but stumbling down.

Two people had walked through the doors. One looking like a whitecoat and the other looking like an experiment.

The first thing that came to my mind was that they were going to make me fight this chick. The final fight of Maximum Ride.

But they didn't.

To my surprise, the guy started for the security computer that was embedded in the wall, heavily coded. And the girl walked toward me.

She kneeled down and looked me in the eyes silently.

"We're here to help," she offered a small smile. "We were sent by Jeb."

Jeb.

He had pulled through after all?

I looked at her blankly.

"Who are you?"

She tilted her head, as if perplexed. Almost in a cat like manner. "I'm an experiment. Born one. Just recently got captured again. Name's Cookie. I'm the one responsible for capturing Tally over there. And my boyfriend Kaiden, is responsible for making this plan work. Anything else?"

And she asked that last one in such a naively innocent way. As if she hadn't just told me she was one of the evil chicks who had condemned us.

"How are we getting out? My flock is dying…" I asked. What? No sarcastic quip from Max? No big freak out over being caught? No plan of my own?

Well, being in this depressing place for so long messes with you. Severely.

"They aren't," the boy said from the computer. He didn't even look my way or spared my bloody wings a look. "They're just heavily drugged and linked up. Something they did to Aleena over here. According to the file at least."

He continued clacking at the keys.

The girl, Aleena, Cookie, whatever the heck her name was (I didn't really care if it was Jabberwocky at this point) rolled her eyes at him, and started helping me up.

My eyes caught the ink on her neck and I winced.

She didn't have that long to live.

She analyzed my face, taking in my expression. "What's wrong?" Again with the heart-breaking innocence.

I forced a smile, "It's nothing. Come on. Let's get my flock up and running now, shall we?"


	50. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Cookie pulled Max up to her feet, reaching back into a little pouch she had strung around her round hips, and producing a little green pill.

She quickly pushed one into my hand and began working on the chains. "Sorry, I don't have water with it. It's a soldier pill—don't worry, not screwing you over." Her hands moved quickly, away from my sight, but the faint metallic clanking told me she was getting the job done.

"Baby," Kaiden said, turning away from the computer, in big bulky caps on a blue screen, it read 'SECURITY OVERIDE ACTIVATED!'

Kaiden reached into a backpack he had brought into the Death Chamber and unzipped it when Cookie got close to him.

I held the pill in my hand, watching them interact with an eagle eye. I felt the smoothness, frowning a bit at the distinctly chemical-smell coming off of it before I placed the pill in my mouth and swallowed it. Then I started gagging a bit from the disgustingly acrid taste.

Cookie's head whipped around to look at me, her eyebrows crinkling in the middle. She mouthed 'Sorry,' her lips forming loose O's, and then went back to talking to Kaiden in hushed tones. From what I managed to get from their conversation though, they were arguing about what to do after they got out. They were planning everything out in a very cautious—almost overly cautious—manner. And then she snatched whatever he had held in his hand and making a beeline to Fang and Tally.

I got to my feet, a quick surge of energy flowing through my veins like jabs of lightening. I waited a bit for my head to get used to this sudden jump from zombie-like state to lucid and ready to kick butt.

Cookie moved over from Tally to Fang and going over all of the flock with quick precision, inserting some sort of fluid into their systems.

"It'd be best if we just leave straight after, like Jeb said," I had a feeling Kaiden was continuing his side of the argument.

"Bah, what the hell does Jeb know?" Cookie said, backing away from the last of the flock, Total, and looking him in the eye. "He might think he knows everything 'cause he's such a dang smarty pants but I'm the one who was put through all that strategy training! I know that they'll send an army of Goblins and experiments our way once one of the higher ups realizes that you hit the override button! I can make those Goblins go away, my power works against them…even if you think so, your normal human attacks won't do much, love." She reached out to brush his hand, seeming not to be fazed when he recoiled.

His eyes flashed, "I came here to save _you!_ Not the California Flock! I can't have you run off as soon as it gets dangerous for them!"

Cookie sighed, crossing her arms. She was small—the gun hanging from her belt, along with the multitude of weapons on her (making her look like a mini walking military base) and the black suit—but she was a bit intimidating. Albeit, if no one knew why she was in such a hellish place like this, they probably would think she was a pint-sized kid dressing up for Halloween a bit to early.

"You forget. If they don't get out, we don't get out either," she said softly, sparing him a smile. "These guys are literally Apocalyptic. They've all come to realize what their powers are. They're managing to freaking suck all the good in the word and cast huge hurricanes and tornadoes all over the world! If they die, the whole world dies, don't you get it?"

"Huh? Wait, what do you mean?" I asked, walking up to Cookie and aiming one of my famous glares at her. She knew exactly what I had been searching for, for at least a year.

The Flock were waking up behind us, looking around and noticing the tense atmosphere.

"Look, let's not talk about this right now. We have to figure out a plan—" Kaiden started, but I interrupted him.

"Look here, I've been on this whole damn wild goose chase, people telling me I have to save the world and all this crap, but I don't know how! I want some damn answers now!"

Something in Kaiden's eyes told me that he was about to snap when Cookie moved forward and gave a curt nod, the ball of energy and enthusiasm that she was when she had entered seeming to disappear. "You have a right to know what those slimeballs told me."

Kaiden scowled, steaming in his own little corner.

By this point, All of the flock had gotten off of the beds and gathered around.

Nudge was holding Tally's hand, while Iggy crossed his arms around her while being behind her at the same time.

Fang beside her, and Angel holding Total, next to Gazzy.

All of us were looking at the small girl blankly, ready to be given the information we had wanted for so damn long.

She bit her lip, lacing her hands together before she started.

"You've all been programmed in the same way most of us other experiments were. Though I'm a just a bit older than Max. A prototype for than program. So that at some point in your life, a series of unpredictable powers 'awakens' in you. It was meant to mimic the instincts animals have, like how some will instantly feel they have to fight to the death, or some know when danger is coming. The powers were meant to awaken when your body thinks it's necessary for that ability to come up.

"But my power came up…slower. I was put into a unit with whitecoats pretending to be family while I attended school and went on through life. Then, coincidentally, as soon as I saw seven kids flying out of a stadium when I was in Texas, my power awoke. Next thing I know, I reach out my hand, and suddenly things are dying. Flowers, grass, animals…people.

"My power awoke. And shortly after, while I was hacking into some files, I was captured to be experimented on again. Then the whole fiasco came with capturing Tally and Fang. Then watching as your powers all finished waking." Cookie reached back to grab Kaiden's hand, the contrast between tan and pale almost laughable. "When that happened, another ability seemed to wake up within you all. As a unit, you all can manage to alter your surroundings based on how you feel, apparently. The Whitecoats nicknamed it The Apocalyptic."

She ran a hand through her hair, "And it fits too. What that means is, if you all die, you have the potential to decimate the entire world. Wipe out every living thing, including yourself."

My eyes widened as I realized where she was heading with this. "So by saving the world, they meant…!"

Cookie nodded, "Yes, by saving the world, they meant that you had to _survive_ Max. Survive the trials they put you through to test your powers, survive all the Goblins, survive the serum, survive losing your brother, your father, your sister—everything. If more than two of you die, we all die with you."

Silence.

Everyone was stunned by the latest news.

But then Kaiden broke all this by reminding us of our time constrictions.

"Right!" I said, "Flock, let's get out of this place!"

* * *

Tally raced through the halls behind Cookie…

And then a blaring alarm rang, and red lights started continuously flashing, bathing everything in a red haze as they ran. This only made them go faster, ignoring the burning in their legs and the strain in their chests. The Fight or Flight instinct was pumping through their veins.

"Dude! Kaiden! Move it!" Gazzy called, trying to get the boy to run as fast as the others.

Tally kept down the urge to tell Gazzy to pipe down from all his commands, that Kaiden was altered as they were.

But then again, it was a life or death situation for him. If he couldn't keep up, he'd likely die.

"Don't worry, I can keep up!" he replied, picking up some speed and moving so he was behind Max and Fang. "And if I can't, oh well!"

Tally was pretty sure that the look Cookie sent over her shoulder at him was toxic and could've melted him down where he was.

Soon, they came to a huge door. Kaiden moved up, panting, to do something to the keypad when Max just shook her head and motioned Tally to blow it up.

It wasn't a big fire ball of an explosion like a bomb, more like the door had just combusted, no fire whatsoever.

And they continued running through the halls, Cookie moving back to argue with Kaiden for a bit.

The conversation was snagged but everyone could hear it nonetheless.

"They've called Goblins on us, I've got no other choice than to stay behind for the wave of experiments they send after that!"

"No! You'll die!" Kaiden yelled, glaring right back at Cookie.

"Sweetie, you have to let me go! I'm going to die either way! From an expiration date, or from Goblins! I prefer Goblins!"

A pause in the fighting.

Tally skidded on the ground as they turned on a corner, spotting another door and making it explode.

Nudge moved her hand in front of her to clear the path of the fall pieces of metal. Fang began running ahead, flickering invisible so he could scout ahead.

"You knew you were going to die?!" Kaiden asked angrily. "You lied to me?!"

"Guys, nows not the best time to be yakking about honesty!" Max hollered, flinging her hand in front of her to send a stray whitecoat flying, smacking into the wall.

"Next level Gazzy should be able to set the walls on fire so we can bust out of here!" Iggy said, having been going by the walls and brushing his hand against them every once in a while.

"I didn't lie to you," Cookie said with a half smile. "I knew I was dying, which is why I didn't fight much when I was captured."

"I'm not letting you die, we'll find a cure, something!" Kaiden persisted, the amount of worry in his voice overwhelming.

Cookie stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway, looking down the hallway they had come. Everyone else stumbled a bit but halted in their escape as well. "You won't. It won't stop me from dying. It won't stop Tally from dying. There is no cure for expiration dates. We will die. Whether you like it or not."

She took off the gloves on her hands, cracking her knuckles as she started to walk back they way she had come. "The only thing I can ask you to do, love, is to do everything I never got a chance to do. Okay?" With that, she smiled at him, skipped towards him and gave him a chaste kiss.

Then she started running back the way she had come.

But Iggy was completely stopped.

And so was Tally.

"Expiration date?" Iggy blanched, stomping behind Tally and lifting her hair to brush his fingers over the ink there.

He sucked in a breath.

"What!? Talon is going to die?!" Total asked, sounding as outraged as his tired little body could manage.

"Tally can't die!"

"No, Tals, you're not dying!" Fang said, frowning.

But what was she going to do?

Instead of listening to them argue...Tally took off, hoping to catch up with Cookie.

They were dying, okay, but maybe they'd be able to make a difference, right? No need to be the helpless mute. After all, didn't actions speak louder than words?

As soon as Tally caught up with Cookie, she noticed the girl was killing as much Goblins as she could by touching them, watching them rip straight through their stitched and howl as they disintegrated, letting a horrible stench behind.

Tally began blowing as much of the walls by them up, hoping to stall them. And launching with a firm punch or kick when the Goblins tried to get them again.

She wasn't going to live long.

Might as well take down as much as she could.


	51. Chapter 50

From the outside, a crowd was gathering, horror and strange curiosity on their faces as they watched as the Facility built for the winged children just seemed to start....imploding.

On one side, huge glowing fireballs erupted with a deafening boom, columns of smoke quickly spiraling up into the already churning black sky.

Screams and screeches, hoarse animal like shrieks and a multitude of other hellishly agonized sounds came from the building, and a crackling of the electric fence made them all scramble away from it as quickly as possible.

Sirens were blaring, and the hum of helicopters, the stench of gunpowder and petroleum...

Many were already realizing what was happening, how this place—the one thought to be able to prevent the decimation of the human race—was actually a place that oozed with the stench of corpses and pain.

Experiment Five, Alex, however, walked across the field, seemingly oblivious to what was happening behind him.

He walked fluidly, smiling innocently, humming a nursery rhyme and counting his steps.

Little Alex seemed completely innocent! Except, maybe, for the way a set of huge leathery appendages extended out of his back, bony and curving into dangerous claws near the ends. One of his red eyes continuously darting up , leaving nothing but white to be seen of it.

The crowd gasped and some screamed as he approached.

Alex didn't mind though!

"They want me to play! Play with the demon children!" He chanted under his breath, a voice that sounded more dark and deranged than what a little four year old child could have ever been.

* * *

The fighting was hard.

That's all that Tally could really say of it, dropping to the floor to duck a Goblin's punch and going for a sweep kick. The short girl that was her partner quickly dealing the finishing "blow."

She paused in her fighting for a moment, leaning against a wall, a hand up to her chest as dark blood dripped from her lips.

Cookie was holding her own, darting in between the Goblins quickly, brushing her hand on them and moving on to the next before any fighting on her part could happen.

That was her weakness, Tally figured. She wasn't really the tactical type like Fang or Iggy, and she couldn't fight well, so she made sure to kill as quickly as she could. Tally came in and made sure all the stragglers didn't pass her.

"Tally!" Cookie called, her head snapping back and smashing against the wall, a Goblin standing in front of her, already moving towards the quick pixie with it's unnatural darting movements.

Tally launched herself at it, her wings flaring to help propel her.

She wrapped her arm around the Goblins neck, reaching with her other to grab its neck and twist as hard as she could, grimacing when she heard the _crack_ it gave. She leaped off of it and threw herself back into the fray, her wings serving as a shield a good amount of the time.

_As if I'm ever going to get a chance to fly again,_ she thought bitterly, mistakenly moving into a back-bend out of habit and leaving herself open to the slash at her side.

She bit her cheek in pain, kicking her legs up over her head to complete her flip.

Panting heavily, she grabbed the clawed, skeletal hand of the Goblin just as it appeared in front of her to knock her down, and used its own momentum to spin and slam it into the wall. Allowing Cookie to brush her hand against the brute.

_Great, now I'm bleeding, gosh this freaking hurts!_ She thought, her hand latched onto her side, her fingers already sticky from trying to staunch the blood with them.

She fell to her knees, looking up at Cookie as the girl stared down the hallway, frowning.

The winged girl closed her eyes, as if trying to banish the sight of all the blood and ashes from her mind, having a little time from all the havoc to think clearly.

"We're going to die here," Cookie said, crossing her arms and shivering, though it was clearly steaming hot in the hallway from a bomb that went off in the direction the enemy had been coming from. The little girl, though the same age as Tally, looked so frightened. Ash streaking down her face, mingled with black blood and neon green slime. Her short hair stuck up in all directions. Red streaked down her calf, already drying.

Tally nodded her head. _We're going to die soon either way..._she thought, a slight burning beginning behind her eyes. She sniffed a bit, holding back her tears.

But then her head snapped around, hearing a sound. A whole lot of thumping on the ground.

Her clouded gray eyes stared in fear, her heart beating so hard the sound of her pulse began to be the only sound she heard.

"Holy hell what the heck happened here?" screeched an all too familiar voice. "Did you guys turn all the Goblins into dust bunnies or what?" Nudge asked.

Tally grinned, letting her head fall forward, her long black hair curtaining her off from her family. _They came back..._

"Of course we did, you idiot," Iggy said, having come over to crouch down by her. "We can't let you two have all the fun, can we?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, flashing a smile that could have outshone the Sun.

And Tally latched onto him, tears flowing down her dirty face. She laughed, so so happy!

At least...at least she wasn't going to be alone when she died! She hated being alone. And as selfish and horribly grotesque as it sounded, little Talon Ghost wanted to die with her family...not alone in a place so creepily similar to where she was raised.

Fang watched on as his sister hugged Iggy, a bitter sweet scene.

Then his eyes wandered to Kaiden and Cookie, who seemed to be duking it out more than ever, the girl screeching about how incredibly stupid and harebrained it was to bring the flock back, while he retaliated by saying that it was irresponsibly and freaking moronic for her to have thrown herself headfirst into battle.

Gazzy got annoyed quickly, Angel holding onto his hand tightly.

"They're just relieved to see each other," Angel said, her gaze wandering towards Total, who seemed to be content narrating everything under his breath, little doggy ears flat against his head. "But they're too stubborn to show it to each other."

"Igs, I think you shouldn't hug Tally that hard, she's pretty banged up," Cookie said, looking ready to strangle her boyfriend.

Iggy let go of Tally as soon as the words left Cookie's lips, but Tally kept holding him, ignoring the pain as best she could.

Sometimes she was thankful Iggy couldn't see.

That way he'd never see her hurt.

"Tally, let go, and let me see what's wrong," Iggy said softly into her ear, brushing back her hair.

_Wings are torn to shreds, same with side, left leg a bit mangled, all in all, the other guys got the short end of the stick,_ she said, her lips twitching up a bit. _They're those piles of ashes you all seem to be standing on._

"Tal—" Max made to say, but was quickly interrupted by a shriek that came from down the hall.

"We need to get out of here," Cookie pleaded, all color draining from her face, she snatched Kaiden's arm, looking at him with a desperately wild emotion. "Please, we need to get out, we need to get out or they'll kill us all!"

"Wha-what?" Kaiden questioned, taken aback. He was under the impression that his girlfriend was one of the strongest experiments there was. Why was she so scared?

"That's the smartest plan I've heard all day," Max said, nodding at Gazzy and Nudge. "Guys, set that on fire, Nudge, pull away the metal, I'll work on forcing it forward, got it?"

"Got it!" Nudge and Gazzy said, moving forward with determined faces.

They worked diligently, and Tally pushed herself up, clamping her hand on her wound and letting her head rest against the wall.

"Keep resting," Iggy muttered softly, reaching out for her other hand. Tally silently stared at him, noting the little tear drops she had left on his blue shirt.

That same sound sound Cookie heard, only closer, made her push off the wall quickly, standing in front of everyone, wings out to touch each of the walls, ready for the enemy.

_No, there are things to be done..._she braced herself, letting go of her wound and holding her hands in fists. Either the enemy that was coming to bulldoze them over was going to get a very bird style knuckle sandwich, or they were going to find their spleen, liver and brain painted all over the wall.

"You guys almost done?" Fang asked, materializing behind his sister.

Angel picked up Total, "Come on! We can get through! The thing that's coming is thinking scary thoughts!"

No one needed to tell the frantic and childlike Cookie twice, because she practically flew out the still smoking hole, pulling Kaiden behind her.

"Tally! Angel! Gaz! Nudge! You guys next!" Max called.

Tally, not really wanting to get another injury, courtesy of their lovely and gracious leader, decided to hoof it, and get out of there as soon as the last of the kids was out.

The sight that met her outside, though, wasn't all that much better than the blown of hallways she had seen inside.

* * *

The crowd gasped when they saw winged figures climbing out of the side of the Facility, a whole mess of them, then watching as they darted across the field. It was thanks to the News Stations that they were able to see that far off, even hear what the children were saying.

"Why don't we fly out of here?" the dog (the crowd was dumbstruck at this) crowed. "It shouldn't take more than a leap to go flying over those fences!"

"Hey! Remember! We don't have bird wings to send us flying over stuff!"

A short girl with curly hair responded, taking what looked like a polished gun from a holster on her thigh. "No! There's a barrier, remember? These places were constructed to keep every type of mutant shipped here inside! If it was that easy we'd have a mutant president by now!"

The girl everyone recognized as Maximum Ride (though gaunt and weary as she looked now) slid to a stop, skidding on the ground, her flock following her actions. "Shit! Another mutant!"

The dark haired twins stepped up, the girl more injured than the other, putting on determined faces as they spotted the creature that had crawled in front of the fence of the Facility less than fifteen minutes ago.

"Kaiden! Back off! This is a mutant fight, if you involve yourself, you'll kill yourself!" the short girl commanded, shoving the gun she had been wielding at the taller man.

* * *

We all readied ourselves for a fight, in front of the little boy.

"Experiment five, Alex, four years old, bat hybrid, unstable, seventh floor, North Wing, Section 8, Hall E, Cell three—one of the more dangerous and uncontrollable experiments," Kaiden recited off the top of his head, voice shaking a bit.

He'd taken a bit of Martial Arts, but enough to keep up with kids who had been on the run their entire lives, or who knew they could kill people at a moments notice? No, that was just suicide.

The little boy stood in front of everyone, ambling up to them with a completely relaxed and otherwise innocent gait.

Gazzy twitched a bit, something he picked up from Tally, waiting to set something on fire. As much as he hated it, in their lives, it was either fight or flight. Here, it was fight or die. So he'd fight and live to see the sun set and the moon rise into a sky filled with twinkling stars. Or even hear his sister laugh again.

Nudge was concentrating, trying to decide whether or not it was possible for her to heave the huge metal barrels scattered all over the lawn at the kid.

Max, though, watched the boy with a stony face.

"You get to play with me!" the boy, Alex, said, grinning and revealing shark like teeth.

Fang blinked out, going invisible and maneuvering around the little kid with bat wings that held onto the ground.

And before they even had time to predict anything, the boy was in Angel's place, the baby of the flock and Total were skidding across the lawn on their backs, huge clouds of dust following them.

From there on out, it was pure war.

Max, tackled the kid with her own supersonic speed, having pushed off the ground and activated it in a split second. She followed up with a quick punch in the kids face

"Gaz! Ring of fire!" Fang growled out behind him, moving to help Max as she took a nasty kick. Alex flipped up to his feet, using that same momentum to spin around with his wings flared out, using them as if they were swords.

Gazzy nodded and concentrated, moving his hands out, but giving a frustrated yell when only steam rose from the ground. "Can't! Too much water!"

Cookie darted across the field, jumping up onto the little boy and trying to get a good handle on him, but getting angry when he evaded her hands without hesitation. Dodging left, right, up, down and then giving her a swift kick in the gut when he seemed to get bored with her.

"Guys! We have more coming in!" Iggy called, his eyes looking down at the grass.

And like some strange Zombie or Science Fiction movie, little holes in the ground opened, more copies of the little boy, Alex, pushing through, gleaming red eyes seeking out their "playmates."

"CLONES!" Nudge hollered, already dodging back and seeking out Gazzy and Iggy.

Tally was off retreating Angel, picking up the smaller girl. _Tell Total to get to Kaiden and find a secure place, near the gates, tell him to find us a weak point or an open gate!_

As soon as Total was darting across the field, the many mutant boys completely ignoring him, Tally set off with her younger companion.

Angel stopped, focusing her sights on two of them, her vision going blank and the boys stiffening.. "Go play with the electric fence," she said evenly.

And the boys walked over to the fence slowly, but surely, after a little bit, crackles and screams erupted, along with the smell of burnt flesh and hair.

Tally, however, was having a good time letting her powers run rampage.

She ran across the field, albeit drunkenly, ignoring when one of the mutant boys managed to hack at her, and merely blowing up limbs as revenge.

"Urgh!" Iggy grunted, falling to the floor, protecting Nudge. The Alex Clone poised to strike down on her boyfriend.

And Tally wouldn't take that. She had fought too hard, both with Iggy and for him, she had ran too much, she had survived through too much to see one of the few things, one of the few people that made her happy vanish.

No.

"I-I-i...!" she gasped, pushing herself to run across to him, despite the condition of her wounds. She threw out her hand, "I-i-ig...!" she froze the Alex Clone, falling to her knees in front of him. "Iggy..." she said softly, her throat burning intensely.

"You spoke! Oh my God Iggy, Tally spoke!" Nudge yelled happily.

"Tally?"

"Iggy?" she responded, albeit coarse and slowly, tripping over the g and making it sound like "Ih-gah-ee."

Iggy beamed, in the middle of the battle field.

Right as a claw appeared through her stomach and she vomited a waterfall of blood up. Her eyes were wrenched in horror, her mouth twisted open, teeth stained a coppery color.

"Iggy..."

And Tally fell onto her boyfriend, stunned.

* * *

We fought for as long as we could, that is until out backup came.

Fang was beside me, fighting as much as he could. As soon as we had found out that Tally had fallen, we swarmed around her and Iggy, allowing him to tend to her wounds while the rest of us fended off the little clones.

Our back up came in the form of several military vehicles completely demolishing the fence, Kaiden having managed to turn off the electricity on that, but not having had enough time to try and figure out the barrier that would have fried us all if we tried flying.

We were thrown into the back of a medical vehicle, the crowds dispersed, and what I thought were tanks began rolling through to the Facility, jets zooming over us. Thanks to my mom and Jeb, Pro-Flock and the CSM, I found out later.

But did we care?

No, we were focused on our fallen members.

Gazzy was burned himself badly, Angel was sporting quite a few puncture wounds from narrowly avoiding claws, Fang was practically hacking up his liver with all the coughing he was doing.

Cookie and Kaiden were pretty banged up, but in another car.

And Iggy was all but torn to ribbons from trying to defend Tally for those moments when we were all far away from him, not really having noticed her.

The sky was positively frothing, ready to burn the earth to a crisp with lightning. Ready to drown every inhabitant with rain.

I looked at Tally as the medics hovered over her, trying to stabilize her. Her wings gleamed below her, practically black with all the crimson that had dried on them.

Yeah, I wasn't about to tell them that she was going to die soon anyway.

The blind bird boy who had her hand in a fierce death grip would sooner rip my head off and use it as a fuse for one of his bombs.

* * *

The hospital didn't have much to say to us.

We all demanded to be together, some crawling onto beds with another, and we all got unsettled with the thought of being too far apart, so the nurses and doctors settled on turning one of the larger rooms they had into a sort of nest for us. The beds were all pushed together so they were near enough that it fulfilled our need for closeness, but not too much as to disrupt the monitors and IVs that we were hooked up to.

All of us stabilized, in and out of surgery (under heavy sedation), and left to wake up and rest from our injuries.

I held Fang's hand, moving to brush my lips against him.

"This has got to be the worst week we have ever had," I said, letting my head fall against his shoulder. I was on his bed today, hearing the steady beat of his heart.

Fang chuckled darkly, "Don't jinx it."


	52. Epilogue

Tally blinked, her eyes flickering side to side when they adjusted to the blinding light.

She wrenched up when she caught the burning scent of bleach, mind blanking out when all she recognized was hospital type things.

Did they fail?

Were they back at the Facility?

Was she on her death bed?

She looked around the room, freaking out.

There were more beds with her, but they were empty, looking barely slept in.

Talon bit her lip, so hard that it bled, _Am I the last one left?_

The door creaking open caught her attention, an echoing chorus of laughter entering the room as a pale, freckled hand pushed the thing open.

She had her hand poised in the air, ready to make things explode if the person coming in was coming for her life.

However, when she realized who the people were, she let her hand fall. "I-Iggy!" she cried out hoarsely, extending her hand towards him, ignoring the flares of pain that erupted across her middle.

His blue eyes lit up, his Vans thumping on the white tile, somehow managing to capture her in a hug and not fall on his butt. "Tally!"

She smiled, enjoying his warmth, "I-Iggy." But then her eyes snapped open in pain, fire burning across her middle. She tried to pull back, trying to form words that would convey her sudden pain.

Iggy backed off quickly, and it was only then Tally noticed how many machines she was hooked up to, how she had bandages that started from her underarms to just below her belly button. All the other scratches decorating her like a Christmas tree.

She scowled, then looked up at Iggy, giving him a once over. His arm was in a brace, he had a wicked looking scar that started at the bottom of his right ear and disappeared into his shirt.

A clearing of throats brought her attention back to the rest of the flock.

And one thing just bloomed in her mind when she saw them all.

Permanent scars.

On faces, on legs, on arms, necks, feet, likely on chests, stomachs and backs as well. They all had battle wounds that probably weren't going to fade away anytime soon.

"Wuh-wuh haa—happeh—?" Tally tried, huffing a bit when her voice betrayed her and said the words horribly and completely obliterated.

"The reinforcements came. We're safe," Fang said, walking up to his sister, giving her a tiny smile. It was brief, but she felt the relief in it.

Tally was about to try and say something when the little kids launched onto her bed, blabbing a million miles an hour while Total just watched them from Max's arms.

She did her best to ignore their scars and just listened as they babbled about everything that had happened.

The CSM had apparently pulled through, with the help of Jeb, Cookie and Kaiden.

After the tanks rolled in, everyone was shipped off to the hospital. Angel, Nudge, Iggy and her were in the ICU for longer than everyone else.

Cookie and Kaiden hadn't made it out. They were completely sad when they said this.

The Alex clones had speared through both of them simultaneously. Kaiden had jumped in front of a few clones with the gun, while Cookie was about to turn around and push him out of her way.

They died in each other's arms.

Dead the moment the medical team got a chance to try and fix them.

Max's wing was banged up, it couldn't endure much stress, so she couldn't go into supersonic speed or race anyone anymore.

Fang could hardly walk.

Iggy had apparently lost use of one of his hands for a brief period, but it was steadily coming back with some therapy. (And brute will. He demanded to be let into a kitchen and practice there.)

Nudge got a horrible concussion, she would suffer from extreme migraines for the rest of her life from what the doctors said.

Gazzy had a bad burn crawling up his hand and towards his shoulder, splattering against a bit of his chest from how he lost control of a fire he had conjured up.

Angel had been caught off guard and had to go into surgery, punctured lung. She couldn't over exert herself either.

Total got his tail chopped straight off, so only a little stub remained.

Tally smiled when they finished telling her about how Jeb had come and explained everything to them.

When the kids started running up to the TV, she turned to Iggy, running her thumb over his smooth cheek, trying to ignore the little clamp on her finger indicating her heart rate.

His eyes seemed to have been staring at hers, lips pulled into a smile.

Tally seemed to blank out again as she pressed her lips to Iggy's, feeling incredible joy for the familiar moist warmth. The tingle of electricity.

His hand wound through her hair, and he gave a truly mirthful laugh when they pulled apart.

And Tally couldn't help but follow suit.

The world was saved.

And she wasn't alone in her crowded room anymore. They were at peace. They could stare at the perfect shade of dark blue of the sky, box the stars and have the life they wanted.

As long as they had each other and they could admire the world and each other, over come any obstacle, everything and anything.

The dark blue sky...

She had her brother, she had her family, her freedom, she had everything she never could have dreamed of having.

Tally kissed Iggy again, muttering his name softly before closing her eyes for the last time, mouth frozen forever in a perfect smile.

She finally escaped.


	53. La La Lie Preview

**La La Lie **

**Preview**

When someone feels like they've made the single worst decision of their life it, quite plainly, sucks. So when I turn around and look at the mirror, I see….some horrible being broken out of a huge containment cell.

The wet smack hitting the floor would be me, and the huge ass pain I get from behind me and behind my eyes would be landing backwards onto the gosh darn hard tile. Horrible pain.

_Ok. I have to open my eyes,_ so I do.

But I do try, it's the single most stupid decision I have ever made. And it just so happens to be my first non-scientists provoked decision. (Of those include "It's either I run or get my feet done extra crispy—okay. I run like hell!" And the ever popular, "I kill my opponent, use my power—or get killed. Sorry but it's battle of the fittest here.)

So I try again.

With tiny little baby flutters of my eyes lashes until I can see straight. And prevent the searing.

I roll onto my hands, pushing myself up with my arms and stretching my wings, the goop in the feathers slopping onto the floor. When they're completely spread, I shake them much like a dog.

And that's when I notice all the people around me gaping.

I'm seriously annoyed by now of all these gaping idiots. Though since I haven't been shocked or shoved onto a crate, I figure that they're not completely evil—but if they're trying to be nice, they could have tried to soften my fall onto the damn solid ground.

When I finally see they're just standing there, still gaping after a good thirty seconds of silence, I snap.

"You all keep staring at me like that and you'll look like fish for the rest of your lives," I say darkly.

But one of these guys—technically a tan-ish looking woman—looks at me (again) and gasps out, "Tally?"

I frown, "Tally two. But what's it to ya?"


	54. SEQUEL UP

La La Lie is up.

(Sequel to Dark Blue) Iggy is confronted with a new person after the death of Tally. Someone who has the potential to make everything in his life right again. But will her clone help? Or create a bigger mess? Iggy's coming back to his girl by July, he'll make sure of it. Whether Tally II wants it or not, he's going to make her do this. Make her bring back his girl.

Is he crazy?

Or just far too in love?


End file.
